Out in front

Friday morning. Happy birthday to Shecky Greene.

All those diplomats were really spies? Who woulda thought.

Tom Nagorski and Joshua Keating take on the mystery of why so many Russian generals are getting killed in Ukraine.

With one ex-Massachusetts Secretary of Transportation taking over the New York subway system, another is pushing to electrify this state’s regional rail system.

Robinhood is opening up the beta for crypto wallets. This could be interesting.

And, “Your Competitor Wrote The RFP You’re Bidding On”. File under: funny because it’s true.

Addition by subtraction

It’s Thursday, National Beer Day. (We all put the yeast in!)

Russian aggression isn’t just an abstract notion in Estonia. Prime Minister Kaja Kallas has some strategic—and tactical—advice for the West.

When US companies failed to detect and remove Russian malware from their networks, the government got a warrant and did it themselves. This is modern preemptive cyberwar.

George Grella reviews Philip Glass‘s 13th Symphony, performed this week in a world premier by the Canadian National Arts Centre Orchestra at Carnegie Hall. It’s great to have another Glass symphony and nice to see him take the stage after the performance.

Richard Davey is being introduced to New Yorkers at a time when subway crime is a big concern. It doesn’t sound like he’ll get much of a honeymoon period. The Post has already nicknamed him the new ‘Train Daddy.’ (His predecessor, the old ‘Train Daddy’, lasted only 25 months in the job.)

And a $20 dollar bill with a banana sticker on it? How did that happen?

A cat and mouse game

Tuesday. Pushing through the week.

You can’t get there from here. Adam Gaffin provides directions on the T.

It’s always been a little fuzzy to me how the coronavirus can persist and adapt in the face of antibodies and widespread vaccination. This article was helpful. Apparently the virus mutates in two dimensions, transmissibility and immunity evasion. The former can reach an equilibrium but the latter goes on and on, as it does with the flu. So we should get used to the idea of ongoing, updated inoculations.

A seven hour gap? Seems weird. A mere eighteen and a half minute gap brought down a president once, a long time ago.

The power of the Internet in the Ukraine war has been pretty apparent. The fact that it’s still up and running in that country is both a surprise and a testament to telecom workers in the war zone.

And now you, too, can slap the shit out of Chris Rock. (Note: no actors were harmed in the development of this simulation.)

Law and order

Wednesday, the peak of the week.

War is over, if you want it, circa 2022. Imagine that.

Spring is here. And you know what that means? Shootings. Lots of shootings. And they’re not happening where you might think they’re happening.

In another hit to the Russian economy, Maersk is shutting down its shipping operations. And here’s another take on the potential nationalization of foreign-owned commercial airliners and how that may play out in the future for the Russian aviation sector.

Can a guy from Boston fix the New York City transit system? I guess we’re going to find out.

And the relationship between NATO and the US was pretty low at points in the recent past, and for good reason. But it’s getting better. They seem to really love us in Albania.

Play ball!

Saturday. The word for today is uncouth.

An asteroid hit the earth this morning. Ground zero was somewhere near Greenland.

Marty Walsh’s guide for resolving a union dispute: Stay at the table and keep talking.

Holger Roonemaa and Michael Weiss write about the sorry state of the Russian effort so far. Francis Fukuyama doesn’t think there’s any possibility of a negotiated peace in Ukraine but he does there’s a decent chance that Russia will actually lose the war on the ground. Lucian Kim believes it was a massive intelligence failure that got Russia to this point.

The battle over free/low cost fares on the T drags on. The system General Manager says it could cost $50-$100 million dollars.

And honesty is the best policy in Japan. It’s absolutely un-American.

The economy, stupid

Friday. Sunny and moderately not cold.

Big changes at the Metropolitan Police. Sounds like the timing was right for the commissioner to depart.

The economy is doing pretty well. That statement might sound wrong depending on your politics. Dan Primark writes, “Republicans think the economy is getting worse while Democrats think it’s getting better. Because the economy itself isn’t really what matters; who’s in charge of the economy is what matters.”

Irish Ambassador to the US Dan Mulhall’s book on James Joyce’s Ulysses is now available.

Bruce Mohl reports that the MBTA intends to raise the price of Charley cards $3 as part of the coming upgrade of its fare collection system. The increase would help pay for costs associated with the new billion dollar system. Meanwhile, fare revenue is up. Also, free fares are being expanded so some of that revenue will be down. Managing the T’s balance sheet sounds like a nightmare job.

And can we all agree now that blocking roadways is not a legitimate form of protest? Good.

The price of admission

Monday, March 17th. MLK Day.

Imagine People of Walmart in a virtual environment. It could be the killer app for the Metaverse.

The recent court decision on public safety unions and vaccination mandates underscores a reality that many people, including Michelle Wu on the campaign trail, didn’t seem to understand. In city government, you can’t just do things from a management position (like all those police reform promises) without hard and often costly negotiations. Every… little… thing… has to be negotiated. Wu got a pass on implementation of the mandate from the court because of a public health emergency—but not on negotiations. Now comes the part where the city has to pay.

The trend line at Gallup does not look good for the Biden Administration and the Democratic Party.

In a sad story, Jeffery Parker, a former manager of the T’s subway systems and current leader of the Atlanta transit system committed suicide by stepping in front of a train.

And if you thought cable prices were bad, welcome to streaming.

Moneybags

Saturday. The Weekend.

Paleontology, politics and dairy all came together in 1802 when the good folks from Cheshire, MA sent a ‘mammoth’ block of cheese to Thomas Jefferson. Not to be outdone, upstate New Yorkers sent an even bigger block to Andrew Jackson, sparking a literal feeding frenzy in the White House. Ah, the good old days.

Coleman Herman reports that non-union employees at the MBTA received a $1000 bonus for working through the pandemic. Huh? Some people in the private sector were lucky enough to have been compensated for continuing to come into work, but not many. How did anyone in management at the T think that was a good idea at an agency struggling to control costs. Just the optics alone should have taken this off the table.

Alan Levinovitz responds to John McWhorter’s article about wokeness being like a religion. And in France, they’re just confused about the whole thing.

Mayor-elect Wu is still taking the T to work. She told WBUR that she will continue to do so as mayor. I guess that’s a good thing. The city can save a few bucks on a driver and when the T goes free, she will save as well.

And if you’re in the market for a new bike and you want to stand out from the crowd you should consider this gold Giant Defy. It’s only $288,125. Cash for flash.

Mind the gap

Happy Saturday. Enjoy the day.

British politicians have a tradition of meeting with their constitutions called political ‘surgeries.’ It’s become a deadly practice lately.

In the wake of a series of incidents, Boston voters were asked about safety on the T. It’s mostly safe, they said. But not very.

In the late 80’s, when Elon Musk was still a teenager, Buick came up with a dashboard touch screen that was way ahead of its time. It was pretty remarkable. Take a look.

Our news intake went up during the pandemic. Consequently, our mental health well being went down.

And the Russians keep screwing up at the International Space Station. Not good.

Throw money

Wednesday, October 6th. There’s still baseball happening.

Two endorsements: Markey for Wu and Trump for Diehl. The former may have some effect but the latter is just a curiosity in these parts.

The MBTA safety team has doubled in size, according to General Manager Steve Poftak, and the agency is spending three times what it had in previous years on capital projects. And yet safety issues are still regularly occurring and projects are lagging. So what’s the solution?

Following the lead of the Boston Public Library, the New York Public Library is eliminating all late fees. Bad news for Bookman.

The trillion-dollar coin is still a possibility. Fascinating. It would be minted in West Point and flown by helicopter to New York, where it would be deposited in the Federal Reserve Bank… assuming the guy carrying it doesn’t have any holes in his pockets.

And I didn’t know Muhammed Ali was an artist outside of the ring. He was.