Vox populi

Thursday, July 1st. It must be summer.

The City Council finally passed the budget –yesterday afternoon. It takes effect today. That was close. Lydia Edwards had the best line going into the process. “I think this budget will pass—like a kidney stone.”

Joan Vennochi looked a little deeper at that Globe/Suffolk poll. The Globe has been pillorying the police department and Marty Walsh but voters still like Walsh and approve of the job police are doing. That’s not to say that there wasn’t a mishandling of the commissioner transition or that there weren’t serious incidents of corruption in the department over the last decade. But as voters seem to understand, it’s a matter of proportion. Of all the issues on voters minds, the poll shows that police reform is at the very bottom. As Vennochi puts it, “These poll results […] may also say something about the media not seeing the political forest for the scandalous trees.”

After an international manhunt they finally nabbed the Tour de France sign holder. They should give her a very stern talking to.

There were some crazy clouds last evening as the heat wave broke. Of course John Tlumacki captured an amazing image. Speaking of Tlumacki and heat waves, check this great image from 1985 with a recounting of how he caught it.

And Fortune favors the online fortune tellers. I have to assume that they saw this coming.

The power of a million new ideas

Welcome to Wednesday.

Tom McGrath believes that the future of Boston politics lies with the youth, who are troubled by the shapes of things to come. Good luck to them. I hope they do better than we did.

In a piece in Commonwealth Magazine, David G. Tuerck and Laurie Belsito argue against the millionaire’s tax. So does Jeff Jacoby, in the Globe. Meanwhile, Pro Publica reviewed IRS records and found that Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and other well known billionaires paid little or no federal income tax. The report “demolishes the cornerstone myth of the American tax system: that everyone pays their fair share and the richest Americans pay the most.” What to believe? Jeremy Arnold has some thoughts.

Bill Bratton weighs in on the state of policing today.

Adam Gaffin reports that in an effort to move things along, the wrongful termination lawsuit brought by Dennis White against the city may move to federal court at the city’s request. The formidable Kay Hodge is representing the city on this one.

And Michael Zhang takes us behind the scenes for the story of how this amazing short video, that mocks the second law of thermodynamics, was shot. No sense crying over spilt milk.

Gravity vs comedy

Today is Tuesday, June 1st. CNN is 41 years old today.

A spirit of bipartisan cooperation is taking hold. At least when it comes to aliens.

The Mare of Easttown finale wrapped things up in a satisfying way. It was some of the best TV I’ve seen in awhile. And it nailed the accents, Rolling Rock and cheesesteaks. Philly got this amazing show and all we got was City on a Hill. Where’s the justice?

The market for cameras and lenses is changing. Since the low-end has been taken over by smartphones, manufactures are focusing on the high-end, emphasizing quality at a higher price. So the costs are rising for the people who still like to take photos with cameras, but the gear is getting better.

“Dave, I can see you’re really upset about this.”* Hiawatha Bray writes about a local firm that makes software that will allow a computer to read a person’s emotional state. No word on whether it can also read lips.

And here’s the column Bill Gates wrote describing the iPhone over ten years before his rival, Apple, introduced it. Very prescient (and a huge missed opportunity.)

Frenemies forever

Sunday morning. Happy anniversary to Henry and Jane.

You think I’m funny? Funny like a clown? Apparently Russians don’t like oversmilers.

The Globe runs a Sunday edition story about a falling out between the former Mayor and the former Police Commissioner. Old news. Nothing to see here. Move along.

For photojournalists it’s pretty clear: It’s not acceptable to change the content of an image. But for landscape photographers there seems to be more leeway on things like replacing the sky in an image. Is that ethical? I don’t think so. A photograph should represent a thing in the world. Otherwise it’s not a photograph. It’s a photo-illustration.

Forget the locked window dimmers. Boing has stopped delivering their 787 Dreamliner pending an FAA review of a fix for imperfections in the carbon fiber fuselage. It’s not considered a flight safety issue according to the FAA – but it’s something that would make me a little nervous.

And Marques Brownlee tells us why the new, electric Ford F150 Lightning is a really big deal. And a pretty good one, too.

Dust settling

Friday, May is winding down. RIP Harambe.

Amusement parks are opening tomorrow. Hold on to your hat.

Boris Johnson’s former top aide, Dominic Cummings, doesn’t paint a very complementary picture of his boss. He botched the initial response to Covid, among other things, said Cummings, who described Johnson’s governing style as a shopping cart “smashing from one side of the aisle to the other.” And Vanessa Barbara, who covers politics in Brazil, portrays that country’s response to the virus as “nefarious and absurd, deadly and appalling.” We also know what happened here in the US, with the bleach injections and all. Generally we get the leaders we deserve but nobody deserved all this.

The state budget has passed the Senate, 40-0. Now to the House.

If you happen to be in Atlanta, the High Museum is running an exhibition of women photographers titled Underexposed. Even if you’re not in Atlanta, you can see some of the images here.

And remember those pre-election economic stimulus tax deferments? It’s now time to pay up.

Problem solving 101

Monday. Spring is in the air.

Yahoo and AOL. Two brands from the past that Verizon thought would be the brands of the future. But it didn’t turn out that way.

The Chiofaro project is back on track after being held up by a judge’s ruling that it had sidestepped the proper review process. How did they fix things? They’ve decided to follow the proper review process.

The author of Philip Roth‘s biography is at the center of controversy over his treatment of women. Jeet Heer, at The Nation, notes his surprise that we’re focusing more on the biographer than on Roth himself. You don’t have to read the biography to know that Roth was a misogynist. You can see it in his work. Updike, and other writers of that generation, were too. But it doesn’t invalidate the art. It’s just part of the judgement.

Kate Bubacz interviews the photographer Dawoud Bey. I admire his black and white portraits but his documentary work is where you’ll find lot of hidden depth.

And the Swan Boats are back. Or they will be on Saturday. Happy days are here again.

Cynical realism

Sunday morning. Relax and enjoy.

Apparently the Massachusetts GOP is doing such a good job of winning elections that they’ve decided they can get by with less voters.

Following up on the Carville Democratic Party ‘wokeness’ problem issue, Russ Douthat writes that it’s not just faculty lounge language that could come back to haunt the party. The “Democrats’ problem won’t be the off-putting rhetoric of police abolition; it will be the reality of a rising body count as liberal politicians struggle to negotiate between activists, protesters, progressive prosecutors and cops.”

Post-war Britain and Ireland feature in these compelling photos from the Martin Parr collection.

CRISPR was a revolutionary step in bio engineering but a new technique called RLR, developed at Harvard, may have even more impact.

One ransomeware gang is changing its tactics. No more encryption, just data held for hostage. Another group is hiring. Business must be good.

And, what doesn’t kill you makes you… nicer? If only.

One lane, two ways

I’m really enjoying shooting with the Leica Q2 Monochrome. Although it’s a modern digital camera, it only takes black and white photos. There are no color filters on the sensor, which allows for greater sensitivity to light, more detail and a more subtle tonality. Anyway, I took the above photo this morning in the rain on the road heading out to Trouants Island. Here are a few more shots taken with the Q2-M over the last few weeks.

Blueberry Island, North River, February 2021

Fourth Cliff from Damon’s Point, February 2021

Non-nuclear explosion

Wednesday. Today is the day Lincoln was shot.

People are flocking to that active volcano near Reykjavik, including many photographers. But lots of people are just there to watch and reflect on nature.

The attack on Iran’s nuclear enrichment plant wasn’t just planted software. It seems that actual explosives were smuggled into the facility and placed strategically. The level of infiltration was deep and now the Revolutionary Guards, who are responsible for security at the plant, are looking pretty ineffective.

Bill Forry talked to Secretary Walsh about his commute and about being the ex-mayor of Boston.

It will be at least a year before the chip shortage eases. Meanwhile, automakers and medical equipment manufactures are scrambling. Bipartisan support is growing for moving chip fabrication to the US and having the government subsidise new facilities to make chips here.

And how does Massachusetts rank in terms of general popularity among Americans? Not as good as I would have thought. People. What do they know?

Take this job and…

It’s Monday. Let’s do it all again.

Sabine Hossenfelder transports us to another dimension. Part 1 of 2.

The New York Times spoke to Covid-stressed mayors, many of whom were from Massachusetts, starting with Donna Holaday from Newburyport. Thomas McGee of Lynn and Joe Curtatone of Somerville also weighed in, as did Thomas Bernard, the mayor of North Adams. Twenty percent of the mayors in Massachusetts are considering a different line of work.

Some guy won the golf thing.

The iPhone 12 has been out for almost half a year. When it was released many of us were excited about the camera improvements and rushed to check out the initial reviews. Sebastiaan de With, of Halide, has been using his iPhone camera for months now and offers a comprehensive and long-term review with lots of photos. Good read for photography nerds.

And, speaking of cameras, the ones on our laptops are pretty horrible. I mostly use my phone camera for Zoom calls because of its much higher quality. I always wondered why Apple hadn’t improved the quality of the cameras on the Macs. Maybe this is why.