Published December 10, 2010

80 Windows (Jeremy Brooks/Flickr)

Today’s photo comes from Jeremy Brooks, who made this black-and-white picture in the West Fens. Great shot.

Submit your best work to WBUR’s Flickr group.

Published December 10, 2010

An empty chair represented Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo at a ceremony in Oslo, Norway, on Friday. (John McConnico/AP)

Liu Xiaobo was not in Oslo to receive his Nobel Peace Prize today; he was in a Chinese prison, serving an 11-year sentence for “subverting state power” after urging changes to Beijing’s one-party communist system.

A celebrated violinist from Newton, Lynn Chang, performed in Liu’s stead. As reported in the Boston Globe today, Chang’s decision to play was not easy.

So while Chang, whose father immigrated to America in 1949, was “thrilled and honored” to be invited to the Nobel ceremony, he was also aware that there might be repercussions: The Chinese government could bar him from visiting relatives still living in China, for example. Or it could forbid Chinese music students from studying at the schools with which Chang is affiliated, which include Harvard, MIT, Boston University, and the Boston and New England conservatories.

But when Chang consulted with family members and school officials, he says, the near-unanimous consensus was: “Absolutely, you should do this.”

I captured audio of Chang’s performance Friday, courtesy of The Associated Press:

Listen as the Nobel medal and diploma are presented to an absent Liu and placed on his chair. Chang’s performance follows, at 1:45 in.

• More from the Globe: Songs for an absent hero

Published December 10, 2010

The Pioneer Institute, a nonprofit public–policy research group in Boston, has released an illustrated guide to Beacon Hill spending for 2011. Gov. Deval Patrick signed the $27.6 billion budget back in July.

The map is so huge and so detailed that you won’t be able to make out most of it, even at full screen. You can zoom way in using your mouse wheel or by double-clicking on a section.

http://cdn.wbur.org/media/special/2010/wbur_1210_mass-budget-map

I would like clearer labels overlaid on the big dollar bubbles so I can see, at a glance, how the government prioritizes my tax dollars. But it’s an impressive creation overall.

Published December 10, 2010

What’s news on an “I’m moving to Florida” Friday in Boston:

The Boston Herald easily wins Front Page of the Day.

Sen. Scott Brown kept one of his promises — that he won’t approve any bill until Congress passes tax cuts. But that meant breaking the promise he would repeal the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. (Globe)

Theo Epstein has saved the Red Sox. In securing Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez, the S0x GM is “the most unstoppable force in baseball.” (Herald)

Court: Prosecutors can build a case on John Doe’s DNA. They discovered the DNA’s owner years after the statute of limitations expired on a double-rape case. But the man can still be tried, the high court ruled. (Universal Hub)

Beth Israel is moving swiftly toward “global payments.” Martha Bebinger explains the fundamental shift in the way we pay for health services. (WBUR)

Proceedings finally began to take down a federal prosecutor. David Boeri follows up on the extraordinary saga. (WBUR)