Going, going, gone

Back in the day - one of them, anyway - we used to say that "the Internet changes everything." And damned if it didn't turn out that the Internet pretty much did change everything. Fast forward a couple of decades and I'm now hearing that "the

pandemic changes everything." I don't know if this will turn out to be quite as true, and whether the changes will be permanent. But COVID sure has changed plenty, and, when it comes to jobs, some of those changes are likely to be lasting.

A couple of weeks ago, the Boston Globe catalogued seven jobs that will never be the same. Most of the jobs on their list are not that great to begin with: low wages, non-existent benefits, poor working conditions. Seems like the pandemic got a lot of workers thinking about what they wanted out of a job and low wages, non-existent benefits, and poor working conditions weren't it. So now we're dealing with a labor shortage, and many of the jobs where there's a shortage - and you've all seen the "Help Wanted" signs in shops and fast-food outlets - are using the lack of workers to accelerate the move to automate jobs wherever they can. Which, of course, raises the question of what the people who actually needed those jobs are going to do. It's one thing for the poet-barista to decide that poetry doesn't pay and to go find a job doing technical writing. Quite another for someone who cleans hotel rooms to find a lot of great options. 

Anyway, here are the jobs that are either evolving into something else, or are on the endangered species list altogether.

Restaurant workers If you've been in a restaurant lately, you may have noticed that the staffing isn't what it was in the free-wheeling pre-covid days when we actually went out without thinking twice. You're waiting longer for a refill on your coffee. And for your entree. The hours your favorite spot is open may be curtailed. 

No surprise. Lots of people lost their jobs during the pandemic, and lots of them want something better. A recent survey by the National Restaurant Association showed that "nearly 80 percent of restaurants said they are understaffed."

Restaurants are responding in a number of different ways. Some are devoting more space and energy to takeout, which is less labor-intensive than waiting on someone seated at a table. Some restaurants are having you place your own orders on tablets. In a couple of local fast food places, robots are preparing your food. This is mostly happening in places that weren't exactly known for leisurely dining in an elegant booth with a white table cloth. Still, it's happening and nothing's going to stop the automation of eating out, at least not on the lower end of the dining scale. 

(While we're on the subject of restaurants, am I the only one who doesn't want to scan a QR code and look at the menu on my phone? Didn't think so.)

Baristas As office workers drift back into the office, it'll be interesting to see what happens to all the coffee shops that catered to them. Just looking in the windows, I haven't noticed any drop offs in the Starbucks on the corner (admittedly, more for tourists than office workers) or at the Caffe Nero in Downtown Crossing. But I haven't looked around the Financial District to see what's happening to all the coffee places - DD's, Starbucks, etc. - that are there. Or were there. In any case, the Globe foresees that automation will be setting in. I haven't been in there, but a nearby Dunkin's gone digital, with customers ordering via app or touchscreen kiosk. Someone human may still be making your order for you. For now. But the days of the barista who knows not only what name to scrawl on the cup, but how many shots of expresso you want in your venti, may be drawing to a close.

Supermarket/retail cashiers These jobs have been dodo-birding for a long time. My Whole Food has even done away with the express lane section and made it self-service. And when was the last time anyone actually had a human ring them up at CVS? Personally, I prefer the human touch, but stores can't find enough people to work the cash registers. Try finding someone in Macy's so you can pay for a couple of pairs of undies. So stores are automating checkout. (Not Macy's. They just let you wander around until you find a place to pay.) 

To date, my main grocery store, Roche Brothers, has cashiers-only. Which makes me happy. And my local indie hardware and drug stores have real, honest to goodness human beings working there. And, while I've never had a barista know my name, some of these honest to goodness human beings in my indie stores do know mine. But I'm sure that at some point, other than in boutiques and indies, where we'll pay more for the pleasure of human contact, most retail transactions will be automated. (When was the last time you had someone pump your gas for you?)

Truck drivers Adding to supply chain woes, the shortage of truck drivers has been going on for a while. While truck driving can pay pretty well, especially for long haul truckers, it's physically and psychologically demanding, and tough on families. And requires a Commercial Driver License. While it won't be happening tomorrow, or even the day after, I do believe that in my lifetime autonomous vehicles will become a reality. No more "10-4, good buddy." Just an empty semi, eerily crawling up behind you with no one in the position formerly known as the driver' seat. And no one in the position formerly known as your driver's seat, either.

Warehouse and logistics With more and more people ordering more and more stuff online, there's increasing demand for UPS, FedEx and Amazon drivers, and for warehouse workers. And the seasonal demand this year is sky high. The laws and supply and demand seem to be working here. Pay rates are going up, signing bonuses are being paid. Yet there are vast numbers of open positions. I don't know about Amazon, but UPS and FedEx used to pay their driver pretty well. Not sure if that's still the case, but once upon a time, you could make a good living as a UPS delivery person, and retire with a comfy pension. (This can't be true any longer, can it?) 

But we've all heard the horrors of warehouse workers (Amazon edition) being treated terribly, with intense pressure to shelve and pickup items faster, faster, faster. These backbreaking and soul-crushing tasks are being rapidly automated, of course. Because robots don't demand bio breaks. Not to mention that the minute drones are cleared for takeoff and landing, the not so friendly local skies will be full of drones dropping off the pair of socks you ordered on a whim yesterday. And there will go the UPS driver you had for years. 

Uber/Lyft drivers I haven't experienced it yet - not in Boston, nor on my recent excursion to Long Island to visit a friend who hasn't been well - but there's supposed to be a shortage of Uber and Lyft drivers. Supposedly a lot of them have switched to doing food delivery rather than schlepp human cargo around. Not to worry. I know I read somewhere that Uber has a standing order for 500,000 self-driving vehicles, whenever Elon Musk gets around to perfecting them.

Hotel workers These folks were hit really hard by the pandemic. No business travel. No conventions. No events. No tourist travel. A world full of stay-at-home virtual conveners. Yes, the industry is bouncing back. But the bounceback's been slow and not all that bouncy. I did walk by the Marriott Long Wharf the other day and noted that a bunch of limo-ish vans were picking up name-tagged business people there for a meeting/convention to take them on some excursion. Students of ancient history will note that Boston's Marriott Long Wharf was the site of the February 2020 Biogen meeting - back when we were just getting introduced to the pandemic - that became the first great American superspreader event.

It will be interesting to see whether, when hotels are more fully back, they'll return to daily room cleaning and fresh towels. If not...

I don't think that any of these seven jobs are going to become extinct any time soon-soon. But in the long run, a lot of them will sure be going, going, gone.

Covid may not change everything but it will no doubt end up changing a lot. 

Veterans Day Farewell for Wesley Black

Like most Baby Boomers, I grew up in a world where pretty much everyone's father was a veteran. We wore our father's old Navy caps. We played with our father's Army canteens. We picnicked on scratchy Marine blankets.

My father was in the Navy for four years. He wasn't in combat, but when he was on the Atlantic on a ship bringing him to Trinidad, where he was stationed for a couple of years, he was in some danger from German U-Boats. But his war was "easy." Basic training in Norfolk, Virginia. A couple of years in Trinidad. The rest of the war in downtown Chicago, at Navy Pier.

Other vets had it a lot tougher. My friend Marie's father was a young Marine at Guadalcanal. A grammar school classmate once brought in a can of C-Rations her father had saved. He'd been on Omaha Beach on D-Day. My cousin Ellen's uncle helped liberate a concentration camp. (I think it was Dachau.) I have a close friend whose uncle was part of a bomber crew. Shot down, he spent a couple of years in a stalag. Shortly before the war ended, on the day the Germans fled the stalag, he picked up a gun that one of the guards had tossed aside and shot (and killed) a guard who had been especially vicious. 

A terrible war, of course. All wars are terrible. But for a clear, just, and good cause. The men (and women) who served didn't have to liberate Dachau to know that.

A few of the younger fathers in the neighborhood served in Korea. Less clear, just, and good. One of these men had had his jaw shot off. My father remembered him as a good looking kid, which I'm sure he had been. His boys were handsome. But the lower part of his face was completely distorted.

Even when there was no war, everyone (i.e., all the young men) "went in." If you didn't go to college, you joined one of the service branches right out of high school. If you went to college, they got you after you graduated for a fulltime stint - or you got to serve for a shorter period but stay in the National Guard for many years after. You saw fellows in uniform everywhere.

And then there was Vietnam, which made the Korean War look sensible. 

A few of my cousins ended up there, but most of the guys I know managed to avoid the draft, many by lucking out when the draft was winding down and they instituted the lottery. The lucky guys had the luck-of-the-draw birthdays and knew they would never have to go. I didn't really know anyone who fled to Canada, but I knew of a few who did.

I went to the funeral of a classmate who's brother was killed in Nam. Many years later, I went to the funeral of my cousin who died at the age of 50 as a result of exposure to Agent Orange. 

My husband worked as a chemist for the CIA. (Don't ask.) Which managed to keep him out of harm's way (not to mention out of the Army).

When did the endless Mideast wars start? Was it thirty years ago with the Gulf War? 

No draft, but enough folks in uniform to keep those endless wars going, especially if you could keep endlessly calling up the National Guard and deploying them.

I don't know very many people who served in any of the Mideast wars. It's not like it used to be, when everyone was in the service. 

People join up for a wide range of reasons - family or town tradition, patriotism, adventure, college tuition, learn a trade, credential to fasttrack a police or firefighter job, lack of other opportunity, prove something to themselve. Whatever caused them to join, an awful lot of them got killed, and an awful lot more came home with grievous injuries. The kind that are often invisible. The kind that in past wars would have got them sent home in a body bag. But they survived.

And while I'm not a big "thank you for your service" person, we owe the veterans of all of our wars - good, bad, or indifferent - the care and support they deserve.

Wesley Black died the other day.

I had read about him last summer. 

He was a Vermont firefighter who had served two tours with the National Guard. While at war, Wesley Black was exposed to military burn pits. Which caused the colon cancer that killed him at the age of 36, leaving his wife a widow and his young son fatherless.

Wesley Black went down swinging, suing the VA for misdiagnosing his cancer a "irritable bowel syndome" until, after years of dragging their heels, finally ordering the colonoscopy that found the cancer. Stage 4. Too late to do anything about. (A few months ago, Black's suit was settled, purportedly for $3M.)

Burn pits are just what you think they are: the spots where the soldiers burn all sorts of trash: fast food wrappers, styrofoam cups, assorted plastics. The toxic fumes permeate the encampments, and even if you weren't the guy doing the burning, you were exposed. Joe Biden believes that his son Beau's deadly glioblastoma was caused by exposure to burn pits in Iraq.

The government is finally doing something about it. Winding down the use of burn pits, and registering the names of military personnel who've been exposed. 

Wesley Black won't be the last case, I'm quite sure of that. 

Wesley Black may have worked and died in Vermont, but he was originally from Boston.

Last summer, when he was making the rounds to publicize his plight and the plights of so many of his fellow soldiers,  Wesley Black had this to say. 

"I'm just a dumb Irish kid from Boston. All I know how to do is fight, you know," Black said. "Cancer's gonna win, but it's gonna be one hell of a war of attrition." (Source: ABC 11)

Wesley Black's hell of a war is over. I don't know what the details of his funeral are, but I'm sort of hoping that they'll do the honors on Veterans Day. 

There aren't a lot of Veterans in my life, so today I'll be thinking of Wesley Black. 

We owe these folks so much for what we put them through...

How to ruin your young life

Last week, Tina Tintor, a young woman in Las Vegas was killed in a beyond horrific car accident. A drunk driver, clocked at moving along at 156 m.p.h. just moments before, and with a loaded gun on the floor of his Corvette, crashed into Tina Tintor's car. She had a most agonizing ending: she burned

to death, screaming, alongside her beloved golden retriever. Some valiant passers-by tried to save her, but between the smashed in frame of her car and the airbags having deployed - and then the smoke, the flames, the heat - they were not able to extricate her.

For her friends and family, especially, one might suppose, for her parents, the horror of Tina Tintor's death is unfathomable, unimaginable. Truly the stuff of nightmares. Twenty-three years old. If she'd died instantly, it would have been terrible enough. That she was burnt alive. Oh my God. A complete and utter tragedy.

But this news would have stayed in Vegas were it not for the fact that drunk-driving twenty-two-year-old Henry Ruggs III, the man at the wheel the speeding Corvette when it plowed into and killed Tina Tintor, was a professional athlete. Ruggs was a star wide receiver for the Las Vegas Raiders, working on the second year of a $16.7M four-year contract. (Since the accident, the Raiders have parted company with Ruggs. His contract was a guaranteed one - not always the case in pro football - but the team will likely be able to void it.)

One can imagine that, thanks to his athletic prowess and the hard work that he put into his game, thanks to his lucrative contract and the potential for follow-on riches, Henry Ruggs III figured he was set for life. That he had the world by the balls.

All that money at such a young age. A $1.1M home he shared with his girlfriend and their three-year-old child. A Corvette. The ability to help out family (and, no doubt, some hangers-on "friends").  Fans no doubt worshipping at his altar. Healthy, talented, good-looking.

But in one respect at least, a complete and utter moron who is responsible for the death of an innocent young woman who had the misfortune to find herself in the speeding path of Henry Ruggs III. And who is equally reponsible for the ruin of his very own, and very young life. 

Ruggs faces a raft of charges. In addition to felony charges of reckless driving and a DUI that resulted in a death, he may also be charged a second DUI count of injuring another person, his girlfriend, who was in the car with him. There may be an additional charge for the loaded gun on the floor, which might have been okay, if Ruggs hadn't been drunk and speeding. (Ruggs alcohol level was 0.16% - twice the legal limit - when he was tested after the crash.) 

When a Nevada DUI results in a death, and you're convicted, there's no non-prison option. Ruggs will spend at minimum two-years behind bars. Likely more. He could be on the hook for up to as many as 46 years. 

Whether he's in for two-years (which seems impossibly light, given the circumstances of insane speed and high alcohol level, even though that level is below the point at which an enhanced penalty kicks in in Nevada) or 46 years, the dazzling football career, the dazzling riches, are more than likely gone for good. So, I'm guessing, is the $1.1M house, which will no doubt belong to Tina Tintor's parents.

Not that Henry Ruggs can't rebuild a life for himself, and put this terrible incident behind him.  It's just not likely to be the life he dreamed of, and had every reason to believe he had in hand. (By the way, the NFL has a deal with the rideshare services to drive athletes under the influence home. Maybe Ruggs didn't know about it, or was two drunk or arrogant to act on it.) 

Maybe it's just me, but it seems like an awful lot of young athletes end up being guilty of bad behavior - often involving assaults on women, at other times drugs and alcohol. A number that seems out of proportion. Maybe it's just that, because they're athletes, we hear about them more than we do the regular guy who works in a Wendy's or a bank. Or maybe because they're coddled, or because their coaches/parents/teachers look beyond bad behavior and see only the athlete who's brilliant at being an athlete. Character and academics be damned - or at least placed in a corner of the backseat and told to sit down and shut up. 

The football players among these young athletes vie to get recruited by a football factory, which gives them a chance (albeit an outside one) to end up in the NFL. Which gives them a chance (albeit an outside one) of being a star who makes a ton of money in the course of his career.

Most high school stars don't become college stars. Most end up playing supporting roles. They're there to help win games and make the super stars look good. The super stars get drafted, as do the stars who may not be quite so super, but who are still pretty good. And then most of them are chewed up and spit out by the NFL grind. Their contracts aren't guaranteed. They play a few years. They suffer a career ending injury. They're just not good enough. And there they are, with what's most likely a half-assed education, little money saved, and no plan or prospects.

Henry Ruggs III was one of the ones who looked like he was going to make it. And then, somehow, he threw it all away.

Maybe he was a good (enough) kid who just made a terrible mistake. Maybe he was an arrogant jerk. Maybe he was something in between. (There are report that, in the hospital where he was taken after the crash, he was belligerent to the police and to medical staff, but that might have been the booze talking.)

The bottom line is, of coure, that he's twenty-two. He's an adult. He's responsible for his own actions. 

And yet one can't help believe that the teams who rely on these athletes don't give two-hoots about them, as long as they can perform, show up at an occasional feelgood charitable event, and keep out of the (negative) news. 

Henry Ruggs III has taken Tina Tintor's young life. That's the most important takeaway here. But he's also ruined his own young life. And that makes this a double tragedy (although only one is a capital-T Tragedy).

I was on a jury a couple of weeks ago. A DUI case. Nothing of this magnitude. No one got hurt. All that got damaged was an out-of-commission fire hydrant, a bus stop sign, and the driver's car. And they didn't make a compelling enough case to convict that driver, so we had to vote to let her go. (For whatever reason, unmentioned by either side during the trial, no breathalyzer test evidence was presented.)

After the trial - which lasted all of a couple of hours; jury deliberation took about twenty minutes - I googled the driver's name to see if she had any priors, and I couldn't find any. That made me feel better. But I'm sure I'll google again at some point to further reassure myself that we were right to let her off. 

Maybe when I'm googling her, I'll look up Henry Ruggs III and see how his story is playing out. Twenty-two is so very young to ruin your life. Hopefully, there's enough in him - the strength and determination it took to make it to the NFL - that he can put to use to make something of himself. He's got the opportunity, something that Tina Tintor never got. Hope he makes the most of it. 

You didn't really think I was going to give Aaron Rodgers a pass now, did you?

By now, even non-football fans have probably heard some buzz about the Green Bay Packers' star quarterback Aaron Rodgers' vaccination saga.

Rodgers recently tested positive for covid, so had to sit out Sunday's game - which the Packers lost - and will not be allowed back on the field until he has a negative test.

The big deal is not that Rodgers got covid. Lots of folks get covid, including vaccinated athletes. The big deal is that he lead people, including his teammates, to believe that he was vaccinated, claiming that he was "immunized." Putting them at risk. So much for Rodgers' vaunted leadership abilities. 

The National Football League has a bunch of rules and regulations about vaccinations. All players have to observe certain protocols, and non-vaccinated personnel are supposed to observe even more. Penalties have been levied - financial and loss of draft picks - on a number of teams, and it's expected that the Rodgers and the Packers will face some of these. 

So far, the big kahuna penalty - forfeiting a game - hasn't been levied, and it's unlikely to be levied here. Still, Rodgers and the Packers aren't making any new friends given the current brouhaha.

Rodgers kind of surprised me. I always rather liked him, and thought he was at least reasonably intelligent. After all, he was one of the folks given a tryout as host for Jeopardy. Turns out he's something of a fringey nutter, doing his own "research" on vaccinations and turning to comedian/podcaster/fringey nutter Joe Rogan for covid advice. 

I love these people who claim to do their own research.

Sure, when it comes to things medical, don't we all? When my husband was diagnosed with cancer, I looked at a ton of stuff on line. It came from sources like the Mayo Clinic, Johns Hopkins, and the American Cancer Society. And I used the information I gathered to help come up with questions that Jim and I discussed with his oncologist, surgeon, and radiologist. I also looked at "civilian" sites where people discussed their personal experiences with cancel. This was interesting,often comforting, and sometimes hopeful, but not really all that helpful. When it came to helpful, I stuck with the pros to inform my thinking.

But I never would have said that what I was doing was exactly research. It was more or less looking at information online that was generally research-based. 

What I wasn't doing was conducting clincial trials, peer reviewing studies, studying the science. 

Yet all of a sudden, anyone with Internet access and opposable thumbs is a "researcher." No. You're. Not.

But what can we expect from a guy who's engaged to an actress who suns her vagina? Aaron Rodgers may not have started out a full-fledged kook, but he's sure on the road to kookdom. With a good bit of rightwing self-righteousness thrown in. Rodgers has complained that he's "in the crosshairs of the woke mob." And that said "woke mob" is hammering nails into his "cancel culture casket."

Oh, boo hoo. A local (Wisconsin) healthcare system has parted spokesman ways with Rodger, but how can a healthcare system that's not full of quacks allow someone who doesn't believe in vaccination to act as a spokesman for them? Simple answer: they can't.

State Farm has a major deal with Rodgers, who for years has been appearing in their (often amusing) ads. They're standing by their man, stating that while they're all for vaccination, he has his right to his opinion. Which is pretty weak and weaselly, in my book. In any case, last weekend, only a very small, well below the norm percentage of State Farm ads featured Rodgers. And Terry Bradshaw, a former football great who also does State Farm ads has come out with a pretty pointed attack on Rodgers.

Whethere Rodgers loses his endorsements remains to be seen, but most companies don't want a controversial crackpot fronting for them. 

Anyway, I hope he ends up with a big fat fine and/or has to sit out a few more games. He can go hang out with his fiancé, sunning his junk or something.

And how about them Packers?

They're now getting it in the neck from the sports and non-sports media alike. What did they know about Rodgers' vaccination status, and when did they know it? And the teams that have been penalized for covid infractions are clearly scrutinizing this one.

The Packers are an interesting team.

Although the Dallas Cowboys are often referred to as "America's Team," I'd argue that title really belongs to the Packers. 

They're an old time team, owned by their fans, and playing in their old time stadium, often on frozen tundra. They're in a relatively small market, yet they have a nationwide fan base. And they have a history that includes a lot of glory and a lot of winning. After Patriots gear, the most common football

clothing I see around here is Green Bay Packers. I'm guessing that an awful lot of football fans place the Pack second in ther affections, rooting for them when they're team isn't involved.

And now they're looking like dopes who let Rodgers get away with living a lie, leaving their team members and other personnel at risk. Not to mention those playing on teams that were up against them. And now this. All I can say is that I don't mind seeing the Patriots replaced as the team that folks love to hate. Green Bay Packers, come on down!

We pay altogether too much attention to what athletes have to say, especially when what they have to say is ill-informed and just plain wrong. And yet they can influence behavior for the better, and if more of the biggies would lock arms and come out in favor of vaccinations for everyone, it would likely help some folks make a pro-vaccination decision they may have been dragging or diggint in their heels on. Making it good for society and making the athletes look good, too.

I hope that Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers have to pay hefty fines. I hope that the Packers end the season with a resounding thud. 

Years ago, when the Packers were having a resurgence, they used a tagline "The Pack is back." 

Well, right about now, the Pack ain't back. Back-wards would be more accurate. As for Rodgers, I'm no longer a fan. And I'm just as glad that he spells his name the wrong way. No way I want to be related to that guy. 

Massachusetts Wanna Dance with Somebody. (Hooray for Hollywood!)

I will admit. I get excited when I spot a location I'm familiar with in a movie or TV show. I got a kick out of seeing my dry cleaners repurposed as a French restaurant in The Departed. (When they were filming, I spotted Martin Scorsese nearby.) It never fails to crack me up that there are still crowds of tourists stopping by the Cheers bar, just down the street from where I live. (No location filming done here: just the intro.) Sometimes I watch old Spenser for Hire reruns, just to see what Boston looked like 35 years ago.

(It doesn't take too much for me to get excited. I recently watched an episode of House Hunters on HGTV, and when they showed some homes in Chicago's Irving Park, I do believe I spotted my mother's now-defunct alma mater, Alvernia High School. Loved it! Even though I'm not 100% certain that the old school building I saw was, in fact, Alvernia.)

I seldom see any actors when they're filming here. Other than Jeff Bridges, who starred in the execrable 1994 film, Blown Away. And Will Ferrell, who my niece Caroline spotted when we were leaving Toscano on Charles Street. He was in town making some Christmas-themed film which, bizarrely, was set in New York. (I passed a street full of fake snow and office buildings decked out for the holidays. There was a NYC yellow cab parked on the street. Seriously, there is no way you can make Boston look like NYC, and vice versa.)

Anyway, because Boston is picturesque, interesting, and charming, while also having pockets of tough/cruddy - ditto for most of New England on all these attributes - there are a fair number of movies shot here.

And, of course, there's more to the story than our innate beauty and charm. The star-struck Commonwealth of Massachusetts has a very lucrative tax credit program for filmmakers, which was made permanent last spring.

The claims are, of course, that the money that filmmaking pumps into the local economy (e.g., Will Ferrell eating at Toscano), and the good jobs it creates, more than make up for the tax breaks. I don't know how true this is. You have to book weeks in advance to get a table at Toscano as it is. And I read that each job created costs $100K, which seems like a lot to me.

I like that movies are made here, but I dunno if the thrill of it all is worth the cost.

But for some folks, it's a very good deal.

Like the folks at Quincy's Marina Studios:

...a modern soundstage that its owner, Marina Cappi, envisions as a bustling Hollywood outpost with the potential to dramatically increase film and television production in Massachusetts. (Source: Boston Globe)

Apparently, it's working. Marina Studios is booked through 2026. And not just for movies set in Boston/New England, which would seem to make sense. Not at all: 

A crew of carpenters, electricians, and painters is scrupulously constructing a replica of the cozy Beverly Hills bungalow owned by famed music executive Clive Davis. A few feet away is an ersatz recording studio, complete with vintage sound board and a couch whose pastel upholstery conjures 1980s L.A.

Why L.A. in the 1980s? Because the film that's being shot at Marina Studios is a Whitney Houston biopic called I Wanna Dance with Somebody.

Now, I like Whitney Houston as much as the next gal. Her rendition of "I Will Always Love You" is gorgeous. And "I Wanna Dance with Somebody" has to be one of the top five get-everyone-out-on-the-dance-floor songs ever recorded. 

But what's Whitney Houston got to do with Boston? Okay, she was married to Bobby Brown, who's from here. But I don't think Boston factored into their married life. 

Now, Donna Summer would make sense. She's a Boston native. But Whitney Houston? Jersey, baby.

I guess if it's all about replicating a Beverly Hills bungalow, rather than shooting in an actual Beverly Hills bungalow, Boston - make that Quincy - makes as much sense as anyplace. 

Still...

But Marina Studios isn't the only film studio game in town (where town is defined as Massachusetts, not just Boston). 

New England Studios was built in 2014 on the grounds of what was Fort Devens, out in the boonies of central Mass. New England Studios:

...has hosted a slew of projects, including the Hulu series “Castle Rock,” Showtime’s “SMILF,” and the films “Little Women,” “Daddy’s Home 2,” and, most recently, George Clooney's "The Tender Bar."

Castle Rock is Stephen King, correct. So New England makes sense. SMILF, I think, takes place in South Boston. So, check! Little Women? Concord, Mass. Perfect. I have no idea what Daddy's Home 2 is about or where its about takes place. (They did have to build a multi-story ski chalet on one of their soundstages, if that's a clue.) I do know that the crew donated a bunch of Daddy's Home 2 sweatshirts to the day shelter where I volunteer. We were giving them out to our guests around Christmas, which I found pretty depressing, as so many of those guests aren't in touch with their families. That said, the guys did seem to like them well enough to wear them. 

As for The Tender Bar,  I read the book. It centers on Long Island. And why didn't I see George Clooney walking around when he was local? Sheesh. What's a tax credit for if I can't see George Clooney? 

Will Hollywood keep coming?

Apparently our tax credits are among the best (i.e., most lucrative to filmmakers) out there. 

The decision by the Legislature did not go unnoticed by the bean counters in Hollywood, said Jonathan Filley, a veteran movie producer and production manager whose credits include “Inside Man” and “Mr. Popper’s Penguins.”

“This industry, we’re horrible bottom feeders,” said Filley. “We’ll twist any story to make it work in a good tax-credit state. It’s terrible, but it’s true.”

Bottom feeders, eh? I'd feel better about this if I'd seen George Clooney walking by. 

While tax credits factor in, industry folks claim that, content demands are driving the opening up of new production facilities in some seemingly far-fetched places. Like the Boston area. It stems from:

...Hollywood’s increasingly urgent need for more production space to meet the exploding demand for content among streaming services, including Netflix, Amazon, Apple, and Disney+.

Whether it's tax credits or the cry for content or both, Marina Cappi thinks here studio will benefit from how close it is to Boston. (Quincy is a few miles south and is on the T, our rapid transit system. Fort Devens is in the middle of nowhere.) Big names, she believes, will want to be close to Boston:

“When Stanley Tucci flies in to play Clive Davis, do you think he wants to sit in traffic for two hours after coming from L.A.?” said Cappi. “No, he wants to jump on the highway, or on a yacht, and come over in five minutes from the airport.”

I haven't seen the I Wanna Dance folks around, but apparently they've been leaving the studios for some location shoots, including in Boston. And on Nantasket Beach, which is proxying the Jersey Shore. (Without the GTL - Gym, Tan, Laundry - thang.)

And please, please, please let me know what Italian restaurants, if any, Stanley Tucci graces with his presence when he's in Boston playing Clive Davis. Tucci is a great cook and his CNN show, Searching for Italy is a tour of Italy's food traditions tour de force. Filmed on location. In Italy. 

No business like show business. 

Darkness, darkness

Walking's my thing. I average a bit over 5 miles a day, and have done so for a few years now. I generally take care of the bulk of my mileage in the morning, purposefully walking and/or running errands. (That's the only running I do...) But I also like to do some "top off" walking in the early evening.

On Monday, when I was doing my top off - around 6 p.m. - it occurred to me that, as of this weekend, I won't be doing any evening walking on my usually paths around the Boston Public Garden or on the Esplanade, which runs along the Charles River. Starting Sunday, it'll be dark by 5 p.m., and while neither of those places are dangerous-dangerous, it's just not wise to venture into either of them once it's dark and there are fewer walkers/runners/bicyclists out and about. 

Instead, I'll have to content myself with a stroll on Charles Street, where there are restaurants, pubs, and stores that keep it peopled. And there's always the foyer of my building, which is monotonous - but, hey, 20 sets of back-and-forth pacing equals one thousand steps.

I do not welcome the end of Daylight Saving Time. In the least.

The extra hour's sleep when we "fall back" our clocks nowhere makes up for the complete assault on the system that comes when it's dark before 5 p.m., as it does when you live on the leading edge of a time zone. 

November is especially tough. Just darkness, darkness. By early December, the holiday lights will be up in the Boston Common and Public Garden, and the skaters will be back on the Frog Pond. Which helps alleviate the gloom. 

The last few years, they've blessedly left the lights on until late January/early February, and by that point the darkness at the end of the day is starting to lift. Slowly at first; then more appreciably. And before we know it, it's early March, there's light at the end of the Eastern Standard tunnel, and we're back on Daylight Savings Time. Let there be light!

What a gift! Even though March weather can be plenty rotten. As can April weather and May weather, for that matter. But having that light at the end of the day somehow makes it all okay. Actually better than okay. Lots.

I was so happy when they extended Daylight Savings Time to start (a lot) earlier and end (a bit) later. 

Every time there's a clock change, people come out of the woodwork to argue to make it permanent (yay!) or to argue to get rid of it (boo!). Nothing ever happens, but those who are against Daylight Savings do make me nervous. 

Anyway, the darkness at the edge of town starts earlier beginning this weekend. As will, no doubt, my patrolling Charles Street and/or my front foyer.

Meanwhile, the thought of darkness descending put me in mind of "Darkness, Darkness" by Jesse Colin Young of the Youngbloods, one of the best songs to come out of "my" music era. (It was released in 1969.) I wasn't a huge Youngbloods fan, but I always liked

"Darkness, Darkness." (And, yeah, I liked "Get Together," too. Come on people now, you know we could all use more folks smilin' on their brother and tryin' to love one another right now.)

Not that it's going to lighten anyone's mood if said mood is plummeting thanks to the end of Daylight Savings, but for your listening pleasure, I give you "Darkness, Darkness."

(When I let YouTube carry on, what followed after this song was R.E.M.'s "Losing My Religion," then Tim McGraw's "Humble and Kind." "Losing" does always manage to make me laugh, but "Humble", well, I defy anyone to listen to that one and not come away feeling a bit picked up. Maybe not enough to offset the darkness that's about to fall, but we'll take those pickups where we can find them.)

Exactly how old is Elon Musk?

He keeps jockeying back and forth with Jeff Bezos for the honor of being the richest person in the world, but when I looked a few day ago, Elon Musk was Numero Uno. Tesla. SpaceX. Boring (the company building the underground transportation loops). Elon's got it all going, accumulation of wealth-wise.

Enough is never enough, of course, so he's been braying of late about taxing billionaires. In his response to this proposal, he ever-so cannily echoed Pastor Martin Niemöller's "First they came for the Socialists..." post-war confessional prose, tweeting “Eventually they run out of other people’s money, and then they come for you.” Clever boy!

Of course, Musk was happy enough in 2008 to take the $465M in bailout money (a.k.a., other people's money, a.k.a., taxpayers' money) to keep Tesla going when it looked like the only place it was going was under. (The company did pay this money back. Still, it was a low-interest loan, and Musk had no problem receiving the government help that put him on the road to super-billionaire status. There's speculation that he'll be the world's first trillionaire.)

Anyway, while a lot of Musk's operations are in California, his growth plans increasingly involve moving to Texas, where there's no grievous personal income tax to worry about.

And it looks like he may not just be interested in building his business deep in the heart of Texas. He's now considering founding/funding a new university: Texas Institute of Technology & Science, or TITS.

"Massachusetts," he noted, "has MIT. California has CIT." And Texas would have TITS.

As we used to say in Worcester, 

"Count to three and I'll laugh for you." 

"One two.."

"Ha-ha, couldn't wait."

And he's looking forward to cashing in on all the "merch" - Musk's word -  that'll come out of TITS. Just imagine, if everyone in the country with the mentality of an 11 or 12 year old boy (the ones of the horny variety) buys just one item. Why, Musk'll be - wait for it! - a millionaire.

I'm not all that big on policing the language, other than for the obvious and egregious slurs. And no one has ever accused me of not having a sense of humor. But how is this funny to anyone who isn't an 11 or 12 year old boy? "He said 'tits.' That's so funny." And how is this anything other than insulting to STEM women?

Mostly it's not funny. It's stupid. (By the way, which one is he? Beavis or Butt-Head?)

But  - or is it butt? get it? get it? I said butt - Elon Musk is the richest person in the world, so I'm sure his entourage, followers, and worshippers - even those who aren't 11 or 12 year old boys - are well beyond the chortle, through the guffaw, and well into the belly-laugh phase in their response. "Good one, Elon. Good one."

Could Musk get any more juvenile? 

He probably can, and as his wealth increases, he probably will. Who's going to stop him?

Makes me want to go hang out with one of the other members of the billionaire boys club. Maybe not Zuck, but I could probably at least have a convo with Jeff Bezos. 

Elon Musk. What. A. Jerk.

Is PETA serious about "arm barn"?

I'm all for the ethical treatment of animals.

I want the chicken I eat when I whip up my delish sesame chicken to have lived its short life free ranging, not cramped in a cage pecking its eyes out. I want the cattle whose hides will go into the making of my next Dooney & Bourke pocketbook - and there will no doubt be a next one - to have met their death ambling up a ramp designed by Temple Grandin to calm their fears. 

I want polar bears to survive global warming; I want whales to be left in peace. 

I would never buy anything fur. 

I want every doggo to find a "forever home."

And if the world ends up moving away from its animal-exploiting ways, well, I'll be just as happy with that. As long as they make a bacon substitute that tastes and smells like bacon. (I really don't need another leather pocketbook. And 99% of the time the shoes on my feet are sneakers - no leather in sight.)

But when it comes to the ethical treatment of animals, PETA can go a bit overboard.

Their latest is a campaign - launched largely, I suspect, for publicity, as it coincided with the Wolrd Series - is requesting that Major League Baseball rename the bullpen, the place where the pitchers warm up, the "arm barn.

The animal rights group says "bullpen" mocks the misery of animals and devalues players...PETA says that cows and bulls are typically held in bullpens before

they are "hung upside down and their throats are slit in the meat industry" and "tormented into kicking and bucking by being electro-shocked or prodded."

"Words matter, and baseball 'bullpens' devalue talented players and mock the misery of sensitive animals," PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman said in a news release. "PETA encourages Major League Baseball coaches, announcers, players, and fans to changeup their language and embrace the 'arm barn' instead." (Source: NPR)

Seriously, Tracy Reiman, does anyone - including Tracy Reiman - believe that using the word bullpen "devalue(s) talented players and mock(s) the misery of sensitive animals?"

I've been a baseball fan my entire life, and I never once thought of a bullpen as being anything other than the place where the pitchers warm up. Was I devaluing the talents of Dick Radatz, Bob Stanley, Jonathan Papbelbon, and Garrett Whitlock? NO! Was I mocking the misery of sensitive animals? NO!

As a means to get people to think about the maltreatment of animals, this campaign by PETA is actually pretty damned effective. They've got me thinking more about it. And while I'm no vegetarian, I could convert pretty easily. 

Still, for all the publicity it engenders, it also looks stunt-ish and makes PETA look a bit foolish. 

For as much as it makes me think about being kinder to our furry and feathered friends, it also makes me ask myself a lot of silly questions about using animals in figures of speech.

Is saying you're dog tired an insult to puppers? What does horsing around say about what horses are about? Are we being demeaning when we say in a pig's eye? Chicken out? Silly goose? Bird brain? 

Cat's pajamas? Bee's knees? Are we mocking those critters?

Anyway, it kind of feels like, when it comes to renaming the bullpen the arm barn, PETA is running around like a chicken with its head cut off. (Can we even say that???)

--------------------------------------------------------------

That picture of the police officer in the Fenway bullpen was taken at the moment a Detroit fielder toppled into the bullpen trying to catch a David Ortiz grand slam during the 2013 ALCS. The Red Sox went on to win the World Series, and this picture became almost as iconic as the 1975 shot of Carlton Fisk trying to wave his home run fair. Anyway, a few months later, I recognized Steve Horgan on the street and spoke to him for a few minutes. He was quite good-humored about this brief shot at fame. 

New York's Bravest? Errrrr, not exactly. (Same goes for New York's Finest...)

The pandemic has brought out the best in so many. Especially the healthcare workers who, especially in those early days when there were so many more unknowns than knowns, have worked so tirelessly and selflessly helping covid victims live, and helping them die. And we can't overlook the everyday workers who kept the grocery shelves stocked, and emptied the nursing home bed pans, and in general have made life more livable during these uncertain and miserable times.

The pandemic has also brought out the worst in people. Starting from the top: the politicians (R-Everywhere) who, while doing whatever they could do to save their physical arses (expensive, not-available-to-everyone treatment; early-on vaccination access), spent even more energy saving their political arses by blocking public health efforts. Followed closely by the rightwing media, who similarly saved their physical arses - tell me Tucker Carlson and family haven't been vaccinated - while spending even more energy saving their ratings arses.

A pox on all their houses. Oh, wait, smallpox has been pretty much wiped out by - ta-da - vaccine!

But following close behind the pols and the media are the first responders - firefighters and cops - who have been opposing vaccination efforts.

One the one hand, this is puzzling. The leading cause of "line of duty" deaths among police officer of late has been covid.

Firefighters (and EMS personnel) have also seen a significant number of covid-related deaths. And a lot of these folks are former military, where you're required to get all sorts of vaccinations, delivered to recruits in assembly line fashion. Why would this particular vaccination bother them? 

But when you consider the number of Trumpers (and, based on the cops and firefighters I've known in my life, pigheads) in their ranks, it's not much of a surprise. It's another rage-fueled issue to leap on. 

And thus we end up with cops and firefighters quitting and threatening to quit. Not to mention ending up with the stellar behavior of Florida's Ron DeSantis, who's inviting first responders who lose their jobs elsewhere for refusing to get vaccinated to come on down to Florida (and get a $5K bonus to do so). 

In truth, it the ranks of cops and firefighters are purged of a bunch of rightwing thugs, that's great. They can hopefully be replaced by those who are truly fine and brave.

Perhaps because they're not just "The Finest" and "The Bravest", the behavior of the NYPD and FDNY have been especially egregious.

A few days ago, it was NYPD off-duty cops blocking traffic on the Brooklyn Bridge to protest mandatory vaccination. The sort of behavior that these same cops had no problem roughing up peaceful BLM protestors for doing. Some "Finest."

And now this from "The Bravest." 

Six FDNY members of Ladder 113 have been suspended for allegedly driving their truck to a state senator's New York City office and threatening his staff over the vaccine mandate for city workers.

The on-duty firefighters drove an in-service ladder truck to state Senator Zellnor Myrie's office in Brooklyn on Friday and questioned staff as to where the politician lives, a department spokesperson confirmed. The crew is accused of telling his staffers they would have "blood on their hands" Monday when unvaccinated workers must go on unpaid leave.

The group of firefighters also allegedly told the staff that if a fire was reported at Myrie's home they would not respond. (Source: NBC New York)

I'm sure that Senator Myrie is delighted to know that he'll have to enlist his neighbors in a bucket brigade if there's a fire in his home. (And I hate to throw the race bomb here, but it will surprise exactly on one that Senator Zellnor Myrie is Black. I'm a pretty good guesser, so I have a pretty good guess about the race of the six FDNY members who came calling in their firetruck. NYC taxpayer money in action!)

Anyway, FDNY claims to have enough vax resisters that, come Monday, they'll have to shut down a number of firehouses and ambulances. And it's the state senator's staff who'll have "blood on their hands"?

What a disgraceful group. (Some "Bravest.")

When our country was attacked by terrorists in 2001, we all pretty much rallied 'round the flag. And that was for something that, after September 11th, really didn't present all that much of an ongoing clear and present danger to us. And that could easily and mightily have been politicized.

Twenty years later, where are we? A killer virus that is still killing a lot of people, and that knows no political bounds, becomes a big political issue. And, thus, will continue to kill a lot more people, over a lot longer a period, than it has to. 

The damage being done to our already frayed community is so profound and terrifying. We should be able to expect better from "The Bravest" (and "The Finest"). Instead, we get this crap. 

Hope these FDNY aholes end up getting permanently suspended . And have to pay for the use of the equipment. If they don't like it, they can move to Florida. I don't have to live in New York to say 'good riddance.'

I'm no economist, but...

One evening last week, my brother and I took a shot at eating out sans reservation. The restaurant had plenty of open tables, but the problem was lack of waitstaff.

We're seeing it everywhere. The long lines at Dunks. The UPS store that's truncated its hours. "We're hiring" signs all over the place.

A lot of folks were blaming the lush unemployment benefits, but now that they've been winding down, the real heart of the matter is exposed: some jobs are just not worth it.

Waiting tables is hard work. Diners can be pains in the butt. So can the managers. So can the kitchen staff. So can the bartenders. You work hard for your money whether you're working "fine dining" or in a diner. But the lower down the restaurant food chain you go, the less you're making in tips. Even though you're probably working just as hard to serve coffee, OJ, and pancakes to a family of four as you are when you're serving Cosmos, artichokes, and filet mignons to a couple of couples. So, pretty sucky work.

Whether you come home rich or poor at the end of you're shift, you're tired. Your feet hurt. Your back hurts. Your hair smells. Your skin is greasy. You need a shower. 

Maybe there's a better way to make a living?

And that's in the restaurant biz where you're making tips. If you're working fast food or retail, you may be making minimum wage or just a nose above it. Customers can be awful. So can managers. There may be a whole stack of petty rules and regulations. At the end of the day, you're tired. Your feet hurt. Your back hurts. If you're working fast food, rather than retail, your hair smells. Your skin's greasy. You need a shower. Before you head off to what's probably your second job. All for short money.

Maybe there's a better way to make a living?

With the economy coming back from the throes of the pandemic, there may be other options out there. Including staying home, especially if your childcare costs exceed what you're making.

If a recent job fair at Denver's airport is any indication, the labor force isn't exactly flocking back to crappy jobs. The organizers were hoping to attract 5,000 job seekers. Instead, only 100 people showed up. That was for 1,000 jobs that needed filling. 

The US's labor shortage has affected industries ranging from education and healthcare to trucking and restaurants. Record numbers of Americans have quit their jobs in search of better wages, benefits, and working conditions. (Source: Yahoo News)

At the Denver job fair, they were looking to fill concession jobs - like flipping burgers at Shake Shack - but they also have a shortage of drivers for airport shuttle buses. And the airport janitors have authorized a strike:

"We are sick of being understaffed, overworked, underpaid, and undervalued for our work," a janitor who has worked at the airport for 16 years told his branch of the Service Employees International Union.

I'm delighted to see workers organizing for better pay and working conditions. Solidarity forever! Power to the People! They should take advantage while they can, because the sad truth is that a lot of these jobs are going to end up being filled by robots at some point. Autonomous vehicles to shuttle those passengers. Roombas to clean up all that mess. And jobs will be automated whether workers are making next to nothing or a living wage. So they might as well shoot for a living wage while they can.

(And don't get me started on DIY. In order to access HBO Max, I need a new cable box. Xfinity used to install it for you. Now they just mail you the box. For joy! Although I may decide to tackle this myself, for now my niece Molly is stopping by after work one evening to plug and play for me.)

Anyway, until every last job that can be automated is actually automated, there seems to be a solution to the labor shortage that a lot of businesses haven't tried.

I'm no economist, but I did take a few economics courses over time. And I was married to an actual economist, so there was osmosis and pillow talk. 

It's been a while, but I seem to remember something about supply and demand. And if the demand for what you supply is greater than supply, one surefire way to increase supply is

price adjustment. You want my labor? Pay up! Raise wages. Improve working conditions. Offer people better benefits. More flexibility. 

Maybe that'll work. 

And if the price of a burger at the Denver airport Shake Shack goes up a quarter, I'm pretty sure that ain't no one really going to notice.

It sure seems like it's worth a try. 

All Hallows Eve, 2021

Maybe it's the Irish in me, but I've always enjoyed Halloween. 

Not that I do much about it.

There are no kids in my building, and there don't tend to be trick or treaters on my street, so I don't give out candy. 

Overall, my neighborhood 

big on Halloween, and a lot of houses and businesses get into the spirit. Here's the window of the local indie hardware store, bad reflection of the buildings across the street from it and all:

Here's the front of the hotel on Charles Street:

And here's a few "civilian" spots:

Halloween would, of course, be nothing if the ducklings didn't make way for it:

Anyway, the crowds of trick or treaters may not stop by my building, but there tend to be a lot of them out and about. So on Sunday evening, I'm sure I'll mosey around a bit to check things out. I'll be going out as a Red Sox fan in my snappy Halloween-themed cap. There's a Jack-o-Lantern on there that you can't quite see.

I look pretty grim, but that's a Red Sox fan for you.

Happy Halloween!

Is there a more offensive putz out there than Don, Jr.?

 I'm no big fan of Alec Baldwin. I thought he was good (and plenty cute) in Working Girl, but that was over 30 years ago. And he made a excellent Donald Trump on Saturday Night Live. Mostly, he strikes me as something of a jerk.

Still, I have plenty of sympathy for his having accidentally shot and killed Halyna Hutchins, the director of photography for a film that Baldwin is both producing and starring in. I have, of course, more sympathy for Hutchins' family - she had a husband and a young son - but this incident will likely weigh heavily on Baldwin for the rest of his life. 

We'll probably learn a lot more about this shooting over the next few months. There's already plenty coming out about lack of safety standards on the site, about cost-cutting, etc. There will no doubt be hefty settlements, too.

And Alec Baldwin may bear plenty of indirect responsibility for what happened. 

As I noted, he strikes me as a jerk.

Still, if I had to vote on whether Alec Baldwin or Donald Trump, Jr. is the bigger jerk, well, that's an easy one. 

Hands down, it's hard to come up with a bigger jerk than Junior.

In fact, I'd be hard pressed to come up with a more offensive putz than Don, Jr. Certainly, Don, Sr. is crazier and more dangerous, and pretty much the most malign individual the American polity has ever produced. Nonetheless, Jr. is very much his equal, and may even surpass, the old man when it comes to being a jerk, an ahole, a putz. 

One of Junior's grifts is merchandise sales - right wing apparel that offers a lot of pro gun and anti-vax items. Typical of the cool stuff on offer is this ammo hoodie. There are also lots of hats with messages like "Do Not Comply". And increasingly popular FJB-ware. As in Fuck Joe Biden. There's even one that uses military parlance: Foxtrot-Juliet-Bravo. 

Whisky-Foxtrot-Tango???

But the most stunning items that Don Jr.'s hawking are shirts that make a joke out of the death of Halyna Hutchins. 

Rather piss poor taste, don't you think? Or should I say Papa-Papa-Tango?

Trumpworld, of course, jumped all over the Baldwin gun incident. But the shirts pretty much take the exploitation cake. Available for the low-low price of $27.99 -  I'll assume shipping and handling are extra, but I really didn't want to look too closely. 

I used to have a teensie-tiny-eenie-weenie shred of sympathy for the Trump offspring. What must it be like to have a father like that? But, with the exception of Barron, they're all grown-ass adults. They're well educated. They could do better. They just choose not to. 

There is really nothing too low for these terrible people, is there?

Amazon: the amazing company we all love to hate

I admit. I order plenty of stuff on Amazon. 

I don't tend to order books for myself - I prefer to do my ordering through my indie if they don't have what I want -  but I have a friend in NY who's spending a lot of time in and out of rehab facilities of late. And when she's in, I send her regular book shipments. 

But there's always something. 

Honestly, I try to see if I can find whatever it is I'm looking for in a brick and mortar store. But sometimes I just can't. And it's just so easy to login to Amazon and let my fingers do the

shopping. And over the last couple of months those whatever it is's I'm looking for have included orthotics, moisture absorber (rainy summer), disposable guest towels for the bathrooms, a plastic holder for my vaccination card, ear buds, supplements (tried my indie pharmacy and two CVSs; that darned supply chain!), and KN95 masks.

But I don't love, love, love Amazon. And I still order shoes through Zappos, pretending that they haven't been owned by Amazon since forever.

On the plus side: Amazon is simple, fast, and easy to buy things you need and/or don't need, especially key after you strike out with physical stores.

On the negative side: Bezos kabillions, worker treatment, putting brick and mortars out of business. (I just hate to think of Amazon completely prevailing there...) And now some disturbing information has come to light. 

The accusations that Amazon has steered shoppers towards its own branded goods - copycat versions of successful products - and away from the other sellers have been around for a long while. I don't believe I've ever purchased Amazon-brand anything, but I wouldn't be surprised if they'd snuck something past me when what I wanted was pretty generic. Amazon has, of course, repeatedly denied the accusations that they were using their data in sneaky ways to promote their knockoffs, and in the process knocking out their competition.

But a bit of evidence has emerged that suggests that the accusations are true.

A trove of internal Amazon documents reveals how the e-commerce giant ran a systematic campaign of creating knockoff goods and manipulating search results to boost its own product lines in India - practices it has denied engaging in. And at least two top Amazon executives reviewed the strategy.

...thousands of pages of internal Amazon documents examined by Reuters – including emails, strategy papers and business plans – show the company ran a systematic campaign of creating knockoffs and manipulating search results to boost its own product lines in India, one of the company’s largest growth markets. (Source: Reuters)

Well, who you gonna believe? Amazon or your own eyes?

Among other tactics, Amazon rigged search results "so that the company’s products would appear, as one 2016 strategy report for India put it, “in the first 2 or three … search results” when customers were shopping on Amazon.

They also developed their private-labeled goods by meticulously replicating what they called "reference or benchmark products." They then went as far as to attempt to develop partnerships with the manufacturers of those reference products to ensure that the quality would be equivalent. 

In 2020, Bezos swore up and down before Congress:

...that the e-commerce giant prohibits its employees from using the data on individual sellers to help its private-label business. And, in 2019, another Amazon executive testified that the company does not use such data to create its own private-label products or alter its search results to favor them."

These statements may, in fact, be self-serving hogwash. Or what we used to call lies. 

I don't have a clue where smart business moves end and possibly illegal anti-competitive practices begin. I'll leave that to the antitrust folks. But it sure looks bad to see Amazon let the smaller guys take the market risk in terms of developing and perfecting products, only to swoop in and grab their business. 

The revelation of the India strategy will no doubt encourage other regulatory entities - EU, US - to poke around further. 

The Reuters article gets into lots of juicy detail. Well worth the read.

As for Amazon, they deserve whatever rains down on their heads. If their private brands business has to get separated out, it'll serve them right. Amazon's just such an amazing company, managing to engender all that love AND hate.

Meanwhile, when it comes to any Amazon shopping sprees, I'll try to be more judicious. Maybe I'll try an extra real store or two before giving up and making my inevitable way to Amazon. And I'll just say no to any 2 a.m. impulse shopping, when I wake up in the middle of the night and realize that I could use another bottle of that shampoo that does wonders for gray hair...

The Fall Classic...

The Olde Towne Team is vanquished, so I've seen my last Red Sox game until spring training. Although in the end they didn't prevail, they made this season interesting. I look forward to the day the boys are back, and have my heart set on getting tickets for the Patriots Day game in April. 

There is, of course, baseball yet to be played. The World Series starts tonight. And just as well that the first game is being played in Houston, not Boston. The weather this week is awful. Rainy and windy. It's likely that at least one game would have been postponed, pushing the schedule even further into November than it already is. (If the Series goes seven games, the final game will be played on November 3rd.) 

Anyway, because I enjoy baseball, I'll be keeping at least a casual eye on the World Series, even though the teams playing - the Houston Astros and the Atlanta Braves - are nowhere near being the post-season teams I would have been happy to see play.

The best news, of course, is that the Yankees aren't playing, having been taken out by the Red Sox in the wildcard game. The second best news is that the Dodgers (other than Mookie Betts) aren't playing, either. While many in the elite sports media were salivating about a New York - LA faceoff, I was part of the 'no, no, a million times no' brigade.

Of the American League teams that made it into the post season, the Houston Astros were, after the Yankees, my least favorite team to be playing in the World Series. If the Red Sox couldn't win the pennant, my second besties were the Chicago White Sox. After that, I would have had no problem rooting for the Tampa Bay Rays. The Astros? Meh.

On the National League side, my pennant preference was the San Francisco, Giants, then the Milwaukee Brewers, then the St. Louis Cardinals, then the Atlanta Braves, and - absolute last choice - LA. So the fact that the NL pennant winners are the Braves? Another meh.

But you can't really enjoy watching a baseball game if you don't at least marginally care who wins. So at some point before 8:09 p.m. this evening, I need to pick a rooting interest.

With two meh-ers to select from, it ain't easy.

Usually, I'll go with the American League team. Unless it's the Yankees. (I did want them to win in 2001, in the wake of 9/11. But they didn't.) But with Houston, we have a problem. 

No, I really don't hold their cheatin' past against them. After all, the Red Sox manager, Alex Cora, was part of that scandal. Plus I'm cynical enough to believe that all teams look for an

edge, and sometimes - maybe a lot of the time - what's an innocent look gets their potentially cheatin' hearts cheatin'. And they step over the line and violate some rule or other. 

As long as it's not that egregious or obvious - like throwing a game for money -  if everyone's doing some sort of, say sign-stealing - and some sorts of sign-stealing are okay, and others aren't - I'm not going to pitch a fit over it. Unless, of course, the sign-stealers are playing the Red Sox. 

I'd be okay with their manager, Dusty Baker, winning a ring. Seems like a good enough guy. He's my age, and has been kicking around for a good long time. 

The players I'm pretty neutral on. Don't really know. Don't really care.

But, still, there's something about the Astros that me no like. 

Maybe it's because they beat the Red Sox and I'm a sore loser. (True that.) Maybe it's their being from Texas, the place that's given us Senator Ted Cruz (and Astros' fan, of course), Louie Gohmert, Dan Crenshaw, and other rotten pols too numerous to mention.

So no reason to root for Houston.

Then there's Atlanta. 

On the plus side, they used to be the Boston Braves. And their super-man, Hank Aaron, died this year.

Their manager, Brian Snitker, is a relative youngster - he's only 66 - but he's been part of the Braves organization since 1977. I find it hard to imagine someone spending their entire career with the same company. It kind of makes me hope he wins the big one this year.

(The players I'm pretty neutral on. Don't really know. Don't really care.)

Also, since everything's political, Georgia voted for Biden, and by electing Warnock and Ossoff, they gave the Senate the Democrats' razor thin edge. Plus Georgia has given the world Stacey Abrams. 

And they did dispatch the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLCS, when everyone in the sporting world had pretty much declared them Destiny's Darlings. 

On the other hand, the Braves invited notorious anti-vaxxer country and western singer Travis Tritt to sing the national anthem before the sixth game of the National League playoff. Which seems a really terrible choice. 

And then there's the Tomahawk Chop, the fan chant and arm waving tradition that Native Americans have asked them to cease and desist on. (I suspect they wouldn't mind a team name change, either, along the lines of the Cleveland Indians becoming the Cleveland Guardians.)

The bottom line: as with the Astros, no reason to root for Atlanta.

So I decided to flip a coin.

The best thing about flipping a coin to make a decision that seems like a toss-up is that, when the coin's on the way down, if you actually have a preference you weren't aware of, it is revealed to you.

Turns out, I really don't have a preference.

Heads I win. Tails you lose.

Looks like I'm rooting for Houston.

This is subject to change, of course.

If Ted Cruz shows his face, I might switch to Atlanta. If Travis Tritt sings the national anthem, if the Tomahawk Chop goes overboard, I'll switch back.

This is the last of baseball for a good long while. Hope it's a good series.