Shots in the Dark

This illustrated essay in the Times on Jefferson is really quite cool.

And so is this wonderful photo of the night sky at Citifield taken by Shannon Stapleton of Reuters.

In the Globe, Tony Massarotti writes about the slugger’s remarkable resurgence.

Papi has his swagger back. Ortiz’s homer last night was his seventh in 47 at-bats dating to June 6, and his third in four games beginning with last Sunday’s win at Fenway Park over these same Braves. In his last 17 games (15 starts), Ortiz has slugged .796 and knocked in 14 runs…..

And to what does Ortiz or Massarotti attribute this comeback? A change in the swing? An injury healed? Contact lenses?

Here’s how manager Terry Francona explained it:

He was kind of lost for a while. Now he’s kind of found himself and it’s good for us.

And that’s about all he wrote.

Well, Red Sox fans—how does it happen that a player goes from looking beaten by an 88-mph fastball to a slugging percentage of .800?

And Michael Jackson too?

I’ll be traveling for the next few days but will post as I can.

South Carolina’s governor Mark Sanford has just admitted that he went south of the border—in more ways than one.

The Crimson reports that….

…the reality of losing 275 employees in one sweep has nonetheless aroused the bitterness of staff members who learned Tuesday morning of the downsizing to come….

“The whole process has been handled so poorly. It’s been unforgivable, insufferable, and unconscionable,” said Richard E. Kaufman, a librarian in the psychology department.

[Blogger to Crimson: It’d be good to know whether Kaufman was laid off or not.]

The Globe adds: Harvard Workers Stunned by Layoffs.

Yesterday’s announcement also drew criticism from student leaders and renewed calls by some groups for top administrators, including president Drew G. Faust, to share in the economic sacrifice by cutting their own pay, as the presidents at Brown and Stanford universities have.

[Blogger patting himself on the back: That idea was raised here on May 17.]

While commenter “Had Enough” writes below,

It is not a public relations nightmare. It is a financial crisis that Harvard is dealing with openly, responsibly and with every consideration and financial support for the staff who are being displaced.

While commenters on both the Globe and Harvard mag sites seem to enjoy mainly pounding on Harvard.

Where does the truth lie?

Sometimes I wonder if the paradigms of TV news have become so cliched that the whole idea of broadcast news has become untenable. Has the level of bullshit become so high that it’s simply impossible to watch the typical television newscast without giggling? Obviously, Jon Steward, Steven Colbert and Bobby Batista think so.

Then you watch a video like this from Brooklyn’s The Gregory Brothers, and it becomes essentially impossible ever to take Katie Couric seriously again.

The departures at HMC are covered on the Times’ Dealbook blog.

But, whoops, turns out the post is a rewrite (and not by much) of a Reuters story.