Not only did former Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang allegedly fall for one of the oldest tricks in the espionage book, a honeypot/honey trap operation, he should have known the Chinese were targeting him and his company. After all, China has been accused of spying on all types of U.S. companies, not just tech companies. I mean, Starwood Hotels? … Wikipedia has its own China spying capers list. … I couldn’t find any major Boston-area corporate spy cases involving China. But you know it’s happening here. We have too many defense contractors and universities to resist. It’s not as if they’re just picking on California.

WWII poster above via Wikipedia’s ‘honey trapping’ entry. … Btw, it should almost go without saying it’s usually middle-aged guys who are the dumb-as-rocks ones in these situations.

Update — 11.14.26 – From the WSJ: “Behind the Nvidia Affair Sits a Vast Chinese Spying Machine.”

Update II — From the NYT’s Maureen Dowd:

Sexpionage in Silicon Valley looks too easy. It barely requires any real tradecraft. All it takes is a smile from the sort of femme fatale these nerdy brainiacs couldn’t get when they were young — before the billions, the makeovers, the personal trainers, the yachts and Huang’s ubiquitous Tom Ford black leather jacket.

Some slightly off-the-beaten-path stories you may have missed over the past week:

— More manufacturing in Massachusetts? Yep: “VulcanForms raises $500M to build three more factories” (BBJ)

— The agency is snapping up properties investors are walking away from: “Cambridge Housing Authority in ‘Land-Banking Frenzy’ Amid CRE Downturn” (Banker & Tradesman)

— Not sure about re-incarnation. But inheriting memories? Calling Carl Jung: ”Researchers detail more than 1,500 verified cases of children with past-life memories” (WBUR)

— He’s right. Elizabeth Dionne should be shooting higher: “Chair of the MassGOP a dead end job” (Boston Herald)

— The much-derided RINOs teach MAGA-types a lesson or two on survival: “Why New England’s Republican Governors Withstood the Blue Wave” (NYT)

— Cool new company alert: “Mass. defense company gets $38M to build self-driving submarines” (BBJ))

— One of many self-inflicted economic wounds by the Trump Administration: “The American Brain Drain Claims another Scientist” (NYT)

— And the parents are going along with this: “How out-of-school sports are fueling an absenteeism crisis in Mass. schools” (Globe)

— Regular child-care is for little people: “Nannying for the ultra-rich is increasingly demanding—and lucrative” (Economist)

— From grapes to video content producer: “Welch’s taps early 2000s nostalgia with vertical series starring former Disney, Fox actors” (BBJ)

— Telling it like it is: “Traffic-blocking Masshole Uber driver tries to speed away from cops about to write him a ticket, only he instantly gets stuck in traffic so they walk over and arrest him, police say” (Universal Hub)

Here’s some good news that’s not getting enough play. WBUR’s Miriam Wasser reports that the long-awaited Revolution Wind and Vineyard Wind offshore wind farms are now fully online, capable of generating on windy days enough energy to power 750,000 homes in southern New England. AP has more on two of the country’s first large-scale offshore wind farms to go fully operational.

I liked this graf from Wasser’s Vineyard Wind piece:

Getting to this point has been a journey filled with starts and stops, and then more starts and stops. At times, it seemed unclear whether the project — which served as a test case of the country’s burgeoning offshore wind industry— would ever get over the finish line.

Those starts-and-stops may partly explain why these stories aren’t getting the attention they deserve. It’s been a frustrating, confusing process with more than a few false starts and setbacks, creating a constant sense of deja vu all over again. The fact Vineyard Wind didn’t exactly trumpet its fully-online-status also played a role in the lack of attention. Maybe they didn’t want to jinx their repaired turbine blades or draw the attention of the Trump administration? … Just joking (sort of). … Photo above via Revolution Wind.

Update –– 11.12.26 – This is a clever way to get around Trump administration opposition. From Commonwealth Beacon: “Healey takes next step in bid to get in on Canadian offshore wind”

After running “The Brutal Harvard Class That Suddenly Everyone Wants to Take”, the WSJ follows up today with the actual 2026-2027 syllabus for the popular Harvard Humanities course. I initially got cocky when I saw the above book covers accompanying the article, having read or somewhat closely studied all three.* But then I read the rest of the fall-semester reading list – and I’m only 6 for 10. And that’s a stretch. Does anyone really read ‘The Waste Land’ and Nietzsche’s ‘On the Genealogy of Morality’? I clearly recall pretending to read them in college.

Ditto for a few of the books on the spring-semester reading list. James Joyce’s ‘Ulysses’? I bluffed my way through that class too, though I did love The Dubliners. The Iliad? Does watching Troy count? Plato’s  ‘The Symposium’? I vaguely remember reviewing and discussing it, as well as the Iliad, in a class. But that’s about it. All in all, it’s four for 10 on the spring semester reading list, if you generously include the pretend reads.

* I shamelessly borrowed the above book-cover photos from the WSJ, figuring all three are no longer copyrighted. I could be wrong.

Update — More on the classics, via the Atlantic: “The Education a STEM Major Needs.” The subhead: “‘Great Books’ courses won’t teach students the meaning of life—but they can help them think about it.” … Is Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey’ partly driving this latest media interest in the classics?

Not to beat the point into the ground, but a reader sends in a Substack piece by Michael Bahareen, formerly of Liberal Patriot, confirming what Hub Blog, the NYT and Steve Lynch have already noted about Tuesday’s election results, i.e., “Moderates Overperform Expectations; progressives not so much.” The Hub Blog reader adds:

The chart accompanying (Bahareen’s piece) is especially illustrative.

Of course whether Democratic leadership governs this way is a different question, given the historical default political responses of 1- spending $, 2- keeping the extreme perspectives happy (which for some time now have been bipartisan default responses) … and how either of those default responses help to address affordability (they won’t). But hopefully wiser heads are looking at Bahareen’s data.

As I told the HB reader, I also have my doubts about how Dems will behave once they take control of Congress. I hope they stick to the issues and try not to come across as shrill and vindictive victors. But I fear many moderates will cave to pressure from the hotheads.

PS: Check out PN’s column at the WSJ. Loved ever sentence of it.

Some slightly off-the-beaten-path stories that you may have missed over the past week:

— They’re circling over the wounded law firm giant: “Goodwin grabs Weil leader as talent ‘frenzy’ begins” (BBJ)

— Boston and other communities need to do the same: “Malden Rolls Back Affordable Housing Requirements” (Banker & Tradesman)

–Typical post-election overreaction: “Elizabeth Warren’s Power in New Senate Is a Wall Street Nightmare” (WSJ)

— So Williams College is now cheaper than UMass after you factor in financial aid? “The Best College Bargain Is a Super-Pricey Elite Liberal Arts School” (WSJ)

— And it’s not an AI, clean-tech or life-science firm: “This hot Framingham startup just raised $2.1 billion, a record venture capital round for Massachusetts” (Globe)

— The high-profile Needham company is struggling as AI transforms the travel industry: “CEO, CFO to leave Tripadvisor as company begins ‘restructuring plan’” (BBJ)

— Former Fidelity president Robert Pozen has some excellent advice on how to keep the system solvent: “Time to Face the Social Security Crisis” (WSJ)

— Is the right time for a new super-exclusive restaurant in Boston? We’re about to find out: “Inside an old bank vault: the private dining club coming to Post Office Square” (Globe)

— Pvt. Joseph “Joe” Gala, RIP: “Merrill’s Marauder finally back home in Massachusetts 82 years later” (Herald)

— Face it: NYC is a better pizza town than Boston, as the accompanying mouthwatering photos tend to confirm: “The Best Pizza Places in New York City Right Now” (NYT)

As WBUR’s Gintautas Dumcius notes, the outcome of Question 7 remained too close to call as of last night. But there’s enough votes counted to see a very interesting pattern: urban areas favored the small-lot zoning reform, suburban areas opposed it. … The urban-suburban divide is not so surprising. Urban voters are used to dense housing, suburban voters not so, etc. But the divide does indicate to me that backers of Question 7 didn’t do enough to educate suburban voters about how the zoning change would only apply to areas with existing sewage and water lines. I.e. places where there’s already somewhat dense housing. My hunch is a lot of suburban and rural voters assumed the reform applied to all parcels. …

Definitely check out the full ‘BUR story. Gin has other interesting local election takeaways.

Update — At the Worcester Business Journal, SHNS provides additional explanations about why the Question 7 vote was so close.

MassLive’s headline sums it up well: “Mass. voters made Republicans pay for Trump.” And that was especially true in the gubernatorial race, with Gov. Maura Healey easily defeating Republican rival Mike Minogue, constantly hammering away at his Trump ties, etc. Minogue’s must now decide whether he’ll plunk down millions more of his own money on a future Mass. race. The Herald’s Joe Battenfield thinks Minogue acquitted himself rather well, despite yesterday’s drubbing. Ditto Republican Elizabeth Dionne, who lost to Treasurer Deb Goldberg. But I’m starting to back off a bit from my prior next-time prediction about Minogue. Yesterday’s gubernatorial blowout was so severe, you got to wonder if he’s permanently damaged goods. … The Globe’s Joan Vennochi has more on the Healey-Minogue race – and potential future races in general.

And it should almost go without saying that all other statewide Dem candidates won in Massachusetts, as the Globe reports. This graf stood out:

The results keep intact the decades-old blue wall Democrats have built across many of the state’s constitutional offices. A Republican has not unseated an incumbent Democrat for one of the state’s statewide constitutional offices in more than seven decades, and outside of the governor’s office, the state hasn’t had a GOP constitutional officer during the 20th century.

So the establishment prevailed again. And that’s not going to change for a while, especially after voters yesterday rejected the Question 3 “all-party” primary reform. Dem incumbents are relieved.

The NYT, typically, hypes the Senate victory of Abdul El-Sayed in a prominent morning headline (see screen shot above, toward the left).* But Roll Call makes it clear that the key victories that put Democrats over the top last night in the Senate occurred in “deep red terrain” by Dem candidates who largely appealed to centrist voters, not far-left voters. In other words: it was a big night for moderate-liberal Dems (or at least those tailoring their rhetoric toward moderation) in South Carolina, Kansas, Texas, Iowa and Ohio, etc. … Another Dem winner last night: Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer. Harshly criticized before the midterms, he’s suddenly all smiles this morning. He recruited mostly good candidates. … The biggest Senate-race loser (besides Trump): Elon Musk. His big Texas bucks, down the drain.

In the House, the welcome Dem blowout will give future House Speaker Hakeem Jeffries enough room to govern without always having to kowtow to a handful of lefty Squad members, as the WSJ reports.

* The actual NYT story, as opposed to the headline, was OK. But someone at the Times just couldn’t help plugging the Abdul angle. The headline has since been yanked. … Btw: Fox News, of course, is already plugging the El-Sayed angle, for completely different ideological reasons.

Update – 11.5.26 – The NYT redeems itself in Hub Blog’s mind: “Moderate Democrats Increase Their Numbers, and Their Clout.” From the story:

For much of the midterm campaign, progressive Democratic insurgents commanded the spotlight in the fight to wrest control of Congress, defeating establishment incumbents in primaries, drawing enthusiastic crowds and promising to reorder their party’s priorities and remake American politics once they got to Washington.

But the path to Democrats’ sweeping victory this week, when they seized control of both chambers of Congress, was paved overwhelmingly by moderates …

But Hub Blog readers already knew this. … The Herald’s Joe Battenfeld rightly notes that six more socialists won House seats on Tuesday – and warns the “extremist contingent will wield outsize influence in the next Congress.” Well, they always do. But moderates are definitely pushing back. … What the elections weren’t about, as framed by the Globe’s Shirley Leung: “DEI is back, baby.” … That’s one way to spin it. …

Update II — And from the Atlantic: “Chuck Schumer’s Revenge.” The subhead: “The Senate majority leader, long a left-wing punching bag, is now the architect of a historic landslide.”

Update III — This is interesting, via the WSJ: “The Costco Board Member and Other M.B.A.s Who Won in the Midterms.”

Update IV — 11.6.26 – From Rep. Steve Lynch, via GBH: “We won in red, red, red states, and we did it by running as moderates.’”

There’s another ‘misconduct proliferation problem’ at State Police. From the Globe:

A state trooper who was knocked unconscious by a fellow trooper in a Quincy bar this summer was arrested Sunday after he allegedly climbed a fire escape, broke into his former girlfriend’s apartment in Boston’s South End, and fell asleep in her bed, records show.

But, hey, things happen. …