Awhile back I did a little work on a book cover for an old guy. A few weeks ago I got a very plausible invitation from his address inviting me to a book launch. I have another elderly friend who likes to send animated greeting cards which are harmless but mildly boring to download and view. The launch invitation had that kind of feel, the sort of thing an old person might think fun on the internet. But I felt a twitch of suspicion, just enough to email the man's stepson (the acquaintance who brought me the work) who looked into it and found that the old guy's email had been hacked and was sending out these very believable book launch notices that required a download and a sort of installation to view.

Just today I got an email sent from the office of a quirky weekly paper for which I'm the proofreader. Subject line "Office Westmount Independent shared ''New Proposal Policy'' with you" and attached a Google document "New Proposal Policy.pdf" which, when downloaded, was actually a .msi file.

The email didn't have a signature so it struck me as odd right away and I replied asking them what it was for. It wasn't beyond the bounds of possibility that they might want me to tackle the job in a different way. But the response was the real key to very nearly persuading me:

Hi Kate,

I hope you are well. I actually sent that.

You can find more about this proposal via the link below.

[...]

Use passcode: 047192 to access file after download

Let me know if you have any questions.

No signature, and the “I hope you are well” didn't sound like any of the three people I know at the office. I replied again saying I was not going to install this thing till I knew more.

I just got an actual email from the newspaper office saying their email had been hacked, not to click on any links, etc. etc.

But the sheer plausibility of these two scams is well beyond any Nigerian prince offering you millions. Be alert.

My three least-favorite parts of our trivia league are multiple-choice questions, toss-ups (random numbers), and the betting of up to 40 points on the last question.  Today my bet landed us in a three-way tie for first, and I didn't realize that we'd end up with another toss-up to resolve the tie.  It really does usually come down to all or nothing as the best bets.

What city is the home of Batman?

How many stars on the flag of China?

What creature has a hyperphagia contest in Katmai National Park?

What percentage of U.S. adults with ADHD were diagnosed as adults?

In what letter-shape does a chess knight move?

What Danish toy manufacturer recently promised not to use AI designs?

What Harry Belafonte song was involuntarily sung in  Beetlejuice ?

How much is the first-offence fine for physical contact with an official in the NFL?

What store changed their motto from "Always Low Prices" to "Save Money.  Live Better"?

What is the Italian name of mural painting on wet lime plaster?

What Aboriginal Australian wind instrument makes a droning sound?

What clothing and shoe brand is named after a kind of antelope?

What K-pop band's fans are called Blinks?

What company created an assistant called Clippy?

How many contestants out of 750 beat the Green Line train in a Boston race?

What 1994 film based on a Stephen King novella is #1 in the IMDB Top 250?

What 2026 film with a one-word title stars Anne Hathaway and Dakota Johnson?

In what pub does Harry Potter first taste butterbeer?  The Three Broomsticks, The Leaky Cauldron, or The Hog's Head?

What percentage of U.S. adults read at less than a 6th-grade level?

What British sketch comedy team considered silly walks and a dead parrot?

Whose final public performance was "Nessun Dorma" at the 2006 Olympics?

What German potato-and-egg casserole is also the name of a Dutch rum-and-egg drink?

What is the name of one of the two men who twice served as Continental Congress president?

At what age did Charles II of England die?

What is the first name of Fidel Castro's brother, who succeeded him as President of Cuba?

What brand of personal lubricant was invented for NASA to improve the heat transfer in the cooling system of the shuttle?

What French sculptor created The Thinker?

Who is the titular hero of a Babylonian epic poem about a king of Uruk?

What lake was created by flooding Glen Canyon on the Colorado River?

What city hosts the Tower of the Americas, built for the 1968 World's Fair?

What is the oldest Major League Baseball mascot, introduced in 1964?

What National Hockey League team plays in Little Caesars Arena?

What are the three types of sword used in fencing?

What was the original name of Caesar Augustus before he became emperor?

What word for a type of dog was the title of a 2010 FX comedy-drama about unlicensed private investigators?

What animal is the subject of a joke referenced in the title of a book by Lynne Truss: "Eats, Shoots & Leaves"?

"[What an LLM agent wants is] something that can only be deduced from its behaviors. Same with dolphins, humans, all animals."

Six, Waiting for Godot, Hadestown, Paranormal Activity, Maybe Happy Ending, Masquerade... this is getting to be a habit.

Always take advantage of Broadway Week. Don't listen to the naysayers who say they can't find the half-price tickets. Pay attention to the specific dates, performances and seats that are part of the promotion for each show.

Don't sit behind columns. Do sit in the front row of the mezzanine. Absolutely sit in the front row of the orchestra, which is occasionally cheaper due to a peripheral-but-amazing view. Often the rows are well-pitched to ensure a view for shorter patrons, but not always. Use A View From My Seat to avoid disappointment and spot surprisingly good options.

Eat reasonably and well at the Columbus Circle Underground Market if you don't have the time to walk further from the Times Square Neon Zone.

Save a ton with a matinee day trip. Amtrak is not as cheap as you'd hope. FlixBus and friends aren't bad, but by the time you make the connection and wait in traffic, your matinee day trip is ballooning to twelve hours, soooo consider just driving yourself.

Driving into Manhattan? Yes! There is no congestion fee on weekends, they want you to come! Always use SpotHero to reserve (yes, this is a thing) a parking garage within a few blocks of the theater well in advance. Navigate with Waze, and pay attention when it offers you routes that add 5 minutes and save $15 in tolls. You'll pay tolls no matter what, but it's still a lot cheaper than Amtrak for two.

What body of water is crossed by a 23-mile causeway between Mandeville and Metairie?

What is the highest of 8 taxonomic ranks, the lowest of which are genus and species?

What college football team defeated Stanford with "The Play", colliding with Stanford's celebrating band in the process?

What Egyptian god was judge of the dead and "First King of Egypt"?

A regular commenter on my Montreal news blog this week:

I work with tourists every day and it’s interesting to see what different people from different places notice about Montreal. Today I had three women from Vancouver who couldn’t believe how little homelessness there is in Montreal, whereas an older couple from a small city in Germany were aghast by the amount of homelessness we have. New Yorkers find the Metro to be pristine. The British can’t believe how many trees are on our residential streets. The Swiss find our streets to be extremely dirty, the Americans wonder how we keep them so clean. People from Melbourne love all the benches. One thing that most people seem to agree on is that Montreal is very vibrant, yet at the same time quiet and laid-back.

It's been a marvelous year for jalapenos. Our tiny garden beside the driveway has been bursting with them.

I've made two batches of sriracha so far. For those I used riper, redder jalapenos, but R. informed me it was time for the space to be given over to fall-friendly plantings. So it looks like'll be... making six bottles of green sriracha? What else does one do with so many jalapenos?

I'm so exhausted right now. Good news: Dream Job won for Outstanding Science Fiction and Best Editing. 

Me and AJ (one of the voice actors from Dream Job) with our heavy glass trophies. 

AJ and me accepting the award. 

Dream Job should be available wherever fine podcasts are distributed. 

In a neighbourhood fruiterie yesterday a woman asked me to reach her down a can of drink from the top shelf in a cooler. She wasn’t tiny and not apparently disabled, but I’m only 5’2” myself. However, I was easily able to reach the thing she wanted. 

She laughed when I observed this was the first time anyone had ever asked me for that kind of help. It was unexpected.