Highly accurate

Saturday. It’s Eat Ice Cream for Breakfast Day!

America’s bridges are falling down, falling down, falling down.

The science of stoned driving is being elevated by the folks at Mass General who have found a way to use blood oxygenation levels in the brain to determine impairment. It’s good news for science but bad news for ‘experts.’

It’s always nice to catch a robber in the act. Great work by the District 11 detectives.

People generally figure out how to manage a household budget at some point in their lives but getting an early start on financial literacy by teaching it in high school sounds like a no-brainer to me. State Senator Pat O’Connor has two bills in the works to that end.

And Benjamin Powers says the Metaverse is “everything you hate about the internet, strapped to your face.” Very enticing.

Mission (not quite) accomplished

Friday. Today is Rosa Parks‘ birthday.

Boris Johnson is having a rough week. The Guardian sees a “fin de régime.”

The tents are down and winter is in full swing but, as the Globe reports, the drug business is still in going strong at Mass and Cass. Area business owners and neighbors are angry, impatient and worried about what will happen in the spring. And who’s in the crosshairs? It’s not the politicians or homeless advocates. At a community meeting, BPD Lieutenant Peter Messina told an agitated crowd that the police were “doing everything we can within our parameters to change what’s happening in the area . . . but you have to understand what’s happening in this area, it doesn’t just change overnight.”

A couple of days ago I linked to a story about the fragility of the region’s power grid. Today, the president of the Conservation Law Foundation takes issue with that whole idea.

In a state considered to be on the left, it turns out that we’ve got a pretty big middle. Scott Lehigh writes about the legacy of Charlie Baker and how that may play out in the next governor’s race.

And a BU Daily Free Press editorial takes on the Spotify / Joe Rogan controversy. Can’t we all just get along?

Eggs in one basket

Happy Wednesday. Ulysses is 100 years old today.

Devra First writes about breakfast cereal the way Tom Wolfe wrote about New York society. A nice treat on a dreary morning.

Bruce Mohl reports on the current fragility of the New England power grid. The power companies bet big on the natural gas pipeline from Canada to Massachusetts. But that plan was thwarted when Maine voters rejected running it through their state. New technology that would help bridge the gap is years away. For now, if we want to keep the lights on, the only options we’re left with are building more transmission lines, bigger LNG terminals and using more No.2 oil. And wearing more sweaters.

If you thought people were driving worse than usual, lately, you might be on to something.

Andrea Campbell, as expected, is running for Attorney General to replace Maura Healey, who is running for governor. And just like that, she’s the front runner. Campbell was one of the most effective and hard working city councillors in Boston so I expect she would make a very good AG.

And Super Sunday is not only about football. There are also puppies.

Snowblind

Sunday. The morning after the Great Moderately Heavy Snow Storm of 2022.

The New York Times instructs us in the proper way to walk in the snow. Just in time.

The Globe has a list of snowfall totals by town. (It would have been nice to have been able to sort it by total, but that’s ok.) Looks like Sharon and Stoughton hit the jackpot with 30 or more inches. Not sure what happened in Hingham, with one station reporting 5 inches while three others logged over 20.

The Boston Yeti made an appearance for the big storm. Or a tweet, at least.

Adam Gaffin wrapped up more than twelve hours of breathless, end of the world, TV news storm coverage. I have to admit, Eric Fisher’s enthusiasm seemed to be waning by about 5 PM.

And at one point in the storm, Cambridge completely disappeared. Hopefully it’ll reappear today.

Reducing the attack surface

Happy Friday. Today’s word is myopic.

In case you haven’t heard, there’s a big storm on the way. Bombogenesis!

It turns out that the federal government’s new zero trust cybersecurity paper is substantive and aggressive in its approach. That’s a good thing, especially as we gear up for conflict with Russia, one of the biggest threats in the space. Sharon Goldberg read the paper and highlights some of the main points.

Despite all the gloom and worry about inflation and supply chain problems the economy is doing pretty well. Neil Irwin: “Personal consumption expenditures rose at a 3.3% annual rate, and spending started to rebalance, with services spending (+4.7%) rising much faster than durable goods spending (+0.5%).” Also, even with supply constraints Apple had one of its best quarters ever.

Licensing Board news: There will be wine in South Bay but no tacos at 4 AM in Allston.

Geoff Diehl might have an opponent in the Republican primary for the governor’s race. Chris Doughty is more Baker-like than Diehl, who channels Trump. It will be interesting to see where the Republican party in Massachusetts stands these days relative to the rest of the country.

And there are some new emojis on the way. Melting face will have its uses.

It is us

Friday. The first DeLorean rolled off the assembly line 41 years ago, today.

The Dorchester Reporter takes both sides in dueling op-eds on rent control in Boston. Melvin Viera is against. Lew Finfer is for.

We have met the enemy and, well you know… A Quinnipiac poll found that the only thing we can all agree on is that we can’t agree on anything. 58% of Americans, across the board, think the nation’s democracy is in danger of collapse because of the country’s divisions. So how do we get back on track? A bunch of independent voters that the Times interviewed had a few suggestions.

Can gender equality inform snow removal? Turns out it can, and everyone benefits.

Marty Walsh said he isn’t running for governor on the same day that Maura Healey announced that she would be. Meanwhile, Adam Gaffin reminds us of ‘the curse of the AG‘ while Andrea Campbell considers running for the soon to be open Attorney General position. Join us tomorrow for another episode of As the Political Landscape Turns.

And, Bill Murray showed up for an impromptu show in Washington Square Park the other day. I think that means six more weeks of winter.

Doom and gloom

Saturday. A cold day in the park.

Kevin Hayden, the new, interim DA, talked to Adrian Walker.

Jonathan Stevenson and Steven Simon wrote an op-ed that suggests that we Americans are “whistling past the graveyard” on whether the union will hold through the next election. They’re not optimistic. And they’re not the only ones (and it”s not just the US). A World Economic Forum survey points to the erosion of social cohesion, a livelihood crisis and mental health deterioration as the most pressing threats in the next few years. “Only 16% of respondents feel positive and optimistic about the outlook for the world, and just 11% believe the global recovery will accelerate. Most respondents instead expect the next three years to be characterized by either consistent volatility and multiple surprises or fractured trajectories that will separate relative winners and losers.” Now there’s something to look forward to.

More cheerful news: When the New York Times says that the Democratic agenda is in shambles, that’s not a good sign.

That big eagle, native to Siberia, that earlier was spotted along the Taunton River, is now in Boothbay Harbor in Maine. Birders are flocking to see it.

And Elvis Costello has a new album out. It’s a remote work recording made by group members scattered around the planet that sounds like it was recorded by a live group in a small club. The new normal, I guess.

Out in the cold

FFFFriday. Batten down the hatches, it’s going to be windy and frigid.

Jan Ransom, previously with the Globe, pulls video of the chaos inside Rikers for this series in the Times.

Life is cheap at Mass and Cass. Live Boston reports that 2 bodies were found by the crew dismantling the encampment. Wu is right to want to get those tents taken down and to put people into proper shelters.

Unions are still a potent force in Massachusetts politics. Shira Schoenberg follows the money.

A new Leica rangefinder was announced yesterday, something that doesn’t happen very often. This one is the M11, successor to the M10, which was released in 2017. I’m a big fan of Leica cameras and lenses but I’ll probably sit this one out. The sensor tech on the M11 is certainly impressive, but so is the price, at almost $9000 for the body alone.

And are algorithms killing the scientific method? Probably not, but they are changing it.

Can’t cut loose without that juice

Thursday. Happy birthday to Rip Taylor, Sophie Tucker and Charles Nelson Reilly.

Are we getting less rational? Our words suggest we are. (It’s a supposition, not a conclusion.)

Electric power is generated by natural gas for the most part locally. But this week’s cold temperatures changed the equations, with nuclear, oil, hydro and even a little coal required for turning the turbines when demand jumped up. More pipelines would mitigate this but apparently people don’t want more pipelines.

The IRS is having a bad year. Expect backlogs and delays.

Gintautas Dumcius looks at the potential political churn in local politics in the coming year. There are a lot of moving pieces including a governors race and openings in the legislature. And in Boston there’s the first year agenda for the mayor, which includes a new police commissioner among other things. Should be quite a year.

And the mRNA technology used to develop Covid vaccines could be used to produce a vaccine for skin cancer. That would be amazing.

Peak Omicron

It’s a chilling Tuesday.

Eric Hill, of the Cambridge Historical Society, takes us back to a time when shoe manufacturing was such a big deal that an exhibition hall was built along the Charles River to showcase the latest in leather work technology.

It’s not a vaccination passport but Hiawatha Bray reports on the new Massachusetts website that will allow you to confirm your vaccination status. Here’s how to start. Meanwhile cases are through the roof. This surge is crazy. Here’s the latest data from the state.

Look at where we are now compared to any of the worse previous surges to get an idea of how widespread Omicron is.

Despite it being less serious, it’s still having an impact on hospitals just by virtue of the numbers. A lot of routine surgeries are being deferred because of staffing. The unvaccinated are being hospitalized at a much higher rate than those who have had the shot, as this chart from the Times shows for New York and Seattle.

But deaths are not peaking quite as badly as they would if Omicron was more potent. Again, vaccination is a big factor in who dies. Now we’ll be watching the numbers going forward to see if this is the acme or if we’ll top off going into February. By March we should be in a better place. Famous last words.

No passengers, no problem. Lufthansa has been flying empty planes to keep gate slots.

And speaking of flying, TSA has released their top ten prohibited items that people tried to take on to a flight last year, complete with Memojis. My favorite is the meth-burrito, although the chainsaw is pretty good, too.