Charlie (Baker) on the MTA

New version of "Charlie on the MTA." rewritten to be about the Orange Line shutdown: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNpYy-ury7k

Performed byJacob Deck, Ben Rechel, and Anna Seda, and written by a friend of theirs who wishes to remain anonmyous. (via Universal Hub)

And the lyrics:

Let me tell you all a story 'bout a man named Charlie
On a tragic and fateful day
He got driven to his office, gave a speech, took some photos
And shut down the MBTA!
(Chorus)
And will it ever return? It had better return
And be better than before (NO FIRES!)
Will our public transit ever actually function?
By now, we can’t be sure.
If you're in Back Bay and you gotta go to Malden
Or from Cambridge to Jamaica Plain
Hope you've got four wheels, or two extra hours
'Cuz you won't get there on the train.
We'll be late to our jobs, and late to our classes
And we're dreading September 1st
Could have done this two years ago when nobody was riding
Now this timing could not be worse.
(Chorus)
And will it ever return? It had better return
And be better than before (NO FIRES!)
Will our public transit ever actually function?
By now, we can’t be sure.
Oh, the workers said "give the T more money
Or the system will surely fail!"
Charlie said "why fund when we can privatize it --
It sure worked for the commuter rail!"
Then it got so bad that the Feds came around
And they said "this is all unfit:
Broken tracks, understaffing, and safety violations,
We must say you're in some deep shit."
(Chorus)
And will it ever return? It had better return
And be better than before (NO FIRES!)
Will our public transit ever actually function?
By now, we can’t be sure.
So the Orange Line, and the Green Line Extension
All shut down for a month, it's true! (TWO WEEKS' NOTICE!)
And the way things are going, it probably won't be long
Till he shuts down the Red Line too.
The director of the T said we should work from home but
if you can't things are looking grim
If your daily commute crosses any rivers
They just hope you know how to swim.
(Chorus)
And will it ever return? It had better return
And be better than before (NO FIRES!)
Will our public transit ever actually function?
By now, we can’t be sure.
Now you citizens of Boston, don't you think it's such a pity
Charlie's so out of touch with us?
Someone bribe his chauffeur, stick a nail in his tires
And make Charlie ride the fucking bus!
(Chorus)
And will it ever return? It had better return
And be better than before (NO FIRES!)
Will our public transit ever actually function?
By now, we can’t be sure.

(The original version of this was a campaign song, and then a hit song for the Kingston Trio.)

payment cards and stupid security questions

I did some paid interviews (similar to a focus group, but with me as the only member)on Zoom in July. The payment arrived today, in the form of a prepaid visa card.

I decided to register the card (in case it's lost or stolen). To do that, I had to create an account. Choose a password with at least one capital letter, one lower case letter, and one number, no problem. Then I got to security questions, and had to pick three, for a longer-than-usual list. The site rejected my answers to "favorite drink" and "favorite aunt's name," in both cases because they were less than four characters long. A lot of people have three-letter first names.

One of the other suggested questions is "favorite animal," and I'm pretty sure the most common answers to that are "dog" and "cat." This is the sort of thing that has me picking questions like "gas station you use most often" or "favorite cartoon character," where the actual answer is "there isn't one," because I can remember what I put in that box.