Cognitive dissonance on crime

Wednesday. The top o’ the week.

Paul Krugman wonders where all the grownups have gone.

The Globe is reporting that Boston is bucking the trend in rising crime. For more than two years the paper has been painting the Boston Police department with one brush, ignoring the hard work and innovation going on. Even the new mayor seems to be keeping the department at arms length, unsure of how to embrace the good work that’s happening there. It’s not a healthy situation.

Marc Hurwitz reports that Guy Fieri is opening a restaurant tomorrow. Can’t wait to hear how good the food is.

Dianne Wilkerson is signaling that she may run again for state senate. Really? She should let someone younger—and untainted by the past—have a shot.

And poor Roger Ebert. Even in death he’s being second guessed. Screen Rant looks at the bad movies he liked and Far Out Magazine brings up the good ones he hated. Just can’t win.

A whale of a tale

A little rain on this Saturday morning. Good for the garden.

The Winthrop Center development downtown will be Passive House certified. That will make it the largest office building in the world with the certification.

While diving for lobsters off the coast of Provincetown, Mike Packard was swallowed whole by a humpback whale. Apparently he was not a very tasty treat for the whale who, after a few minutes, regurgitated him back into the waves. An amazing story and quite an experience – for Packard and the whale.

Kevin Beaumont is right. Cybersecurity is hard. Too hard.

With restaurants shutting down or reducing capacity during the pandemic, oyster farmers were facing a tough time. But there’s a silver lining to the story.

And Spencer Buell waded through RMV vanity plate applications to find which ones were rejected and why. The person at the Registry who has to review and research those applications has a very weird job.

Paying homage

Friday on my mind.

It was only right to over-tip when restaurants were hurting. But now, as things are getting back to normal, what should the new normal be for tipping? I’d say, if you can afford it, just keep on over-tipping.

Coleman Herman delves into some legislative budget language to find an old-fashioned snub war going on between lawmakers and UMass trustees. My bet is on the guys on Beacon Hill who control the money.

A government report on UFOs is expected sometime this month. Here’s a spoiler from the New York Times: We still don’t have a clue.

F. Lee Bailey has died. He used to be a neighbor. His was the only house on the street with a helicopter garage.

And remember that long Twin Peaks scene of a man sweeping the floor? Over two minutes long. Only David Lynch could get away with that (well, maybe Tarantino). Apparently Lynch does not suffer advice gladly, on how long a scene should be.

Gone dark

A Saturday in the month of May. A violent wind will blow the wires away.

What a disaster,” indeed.

There has been a strange, but welcome, development regarding Darkside, the ransomware affiliate operation. All at once their public-facing servers and CDN’s have been been taken offline and their money has been seized. By whom, we don’t know but apparently the hackers went a little too far in recent days. The group is now saying that it will be closing down operations but more likely they’ll just retreat to a more low-profile mode of doing business.

A fan of the Dead Kennedys growing up, Boston-based Sister Aletheia now promotes death awareness. “Every face becomes a skull,” she reminds us. Cheery thought.

Marc Hurwitz reports on a new Vietnamese restaurant opening on Adams Street in Dorchester, near Park Street, quoting the owner, “You hungry, but can’t pay? Come and eat, and bring the money tomorrow…I have a warm heart, I like to share with friends. It’s how I was raised.” Sounds like a place I’d like to try.

And this makes perfect sense, right?

Supporting the team

Wednesday. Sunny and spring like. Today’s word is fathom.

We may have botched the response to Covid-19, but the good news is that, at least in England, we seem to have eliminated the flu!

In-person sports could be coming back, according to a tease from the governor. Will it be Bruins… or Celtics? Or will we have to wait for a summer game at Fenway. Foxboro in the fall? I’d settle for getting back to normal even by then.

Attorney General Maura Healey is flexing. Matt Stout suggests it might have something to do with a potential gubernatorial shot in 2022.

A new restaurant, Noami, is slated to open in the Derby Street shops in Hingham by the summer. Marc Hurwitz reports that it will be operated by the same team that runs restaurants in Chinatown, Cambridge and at Logan Airport. Good restaurants moving out into the suburbs seems to be a trend. Spread the wealth, I say, especially on the south shore.

And a court has ruled against drummer Joey Kramer, who will not be playing with Aerosmith at the Grammys. It’s a sad story.

Return on investment

Wednesday’s child is full of woe. And in 2020, there are 78 days to go.

At 92, Burt Bacharach is still at it.

As the cold weather moves in, outdoor dining can be very expensive for restaurant owners. The Dorchester Brewing Company is making the investment. Now they need their customers to support them. Also, in Kingston, Regina Pizza has closed its location in the Kingston Mall (or Collection, as it’s known these days. A collection of empty storefronts, mostly.) And on Harrison Ave in Boston, Atlántico, a new seafood tapas restaurant, it hoping to make a go of it despite the tough times.

Sherrin Woods, my old childhood haunt, is in the news. A Universal Hub post reports that there’s a petition that suggests the city purchase a parcel along the tracks near Dale Street to incorporate into the woods, rather than have it be developed into condos. I’m on board.

I was really drawn in by Rukmini Callimachi’s reporting on ISIS. Her sources and online investigative methods seemed to be perfectly suited to the story. So it’s disappointing to see that a big story she reported for the Times may have been based on an unreliable source. It’s a ding both to her reputation and to that of the Times.

And African Americans for Trump are on Twitter. Actually, no, they’re not.