Chronicling the past week via quick links and pithy commentary (hooray for the return of flip-flop weather edition)

Mayor Tom Menino: Sex bomb. Or something.

The Zen of Manny: Forget NESN commentary. When Ramirez retires, he’s going to be our self-help guru.

Is the Globe bloodletting over? Marty Baron says the buyouts are over and layoffs won’t be necessary, but he doesn’t say who’s leaving.

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We’ve been anxiously awaiting City Council President Maureen Feeney’s Civic Summit since she announced the idea back in January. Feeney hopes to bring together various civic groups to talk about the direction of the city and hopefully get a few younger residents interested in the city’s affairs. Mayor Tom Menino was decidedly skeptical (read: ticked off at the suggestion), but Feeney pressed on anyway.

Now you can register for the big event. [via Universal Hub]

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It’s the weekend. You can spend it digging through your closet to find all your summer clothes, or you can get outside and enjoy it. Here are some other suggestions for your precious two days of total freedom, prepared for you by Boston Daily.

Tonight

Can we has ROFLCon? This first-ever conference brings together the people behind internet phenomenons like Stuff White People Like and Cyanide and Happiness.

He may want to rock and roll all night, but KISS guitarist and singer Paul Stanley has traded partying every day in for painting. His work is on display at the Wentworth Gallery this weekend.

You don’t have to wait for the Red Sox to sweep the World Series to get a good deal on furniture. Ligne Roset at Adesso’s Semi-Annual Floor Model Clearance is underway now.

Friday can be a drag, and we mean that in the best way possible. Coco Peru performs a one-woman show at Mantra tonight.

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Each Friday, Paul McMorrow will take you inside the smoke-filled rooms and darkly-lit corridors of government to bring you the hottest and juiciest political tidbits. This week: Brad Jones takes on everybody, fun with urls, and the most popular man in Boston: Thomas M. Menino.

We already know that next week’s budget debate won’t see a whole lot of actual debate. The days of the House pulling weeks worth of all-nighters and clawing over a couple thousand amendments, one after the other, are long gone. But that doesn’t mean there won’t be fireworks when Reps slog through this year’s glut of cash-money add-ons.

The latest phantom voting scandal is already more than a week old, but it doesn’t show signs of going away any time soon. With any luck, it’ll be one of the stars of the budget debate. Minority Leader Brad Jones is making sure of that.

House Republicans have filed an amendment “restoring a level of integrity to the [voting] process,” setting aside money to overhaul the chamber’s voting system. The system is antiquated and “on its last legs” anyway, Jones says. If it broke down next week, nobody would be around to fix it, because the technology that makes it run doesn’t exist anymore. So, the GOP figures, if the state’s going to have to spend money to replace the thing, it might as well do so while Charles Murphy’s St. Croix to Boston vote still has legs on talk radio. (more…)

In today’s business section of the Globe, the paper wrings its hands about the sudden flood of low-cost bus carriers on the Boston-New York route. Newcomers BoltBus and MegaBus join the already established ranks of Fung Wah, Lucky Star, and good old Greyhound in shuttling college students and other bargain hunters between Beantown and the Big Apple.

But we think BoltBus is gonna be just fine in this competitive market. Much like the massively popular Fung Wah, BoltBus is already crashing.

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The first thing you notice about Rajon Rondo is his calmness. He is 22 years old, in his first full season as a starting point guard in the NBA for the league’s best team, and he is the guy identified by the opposition as the one they most want to shoot. He plays alongside three perennial All-Stars, in a position that demands that he take control. He can’t just blend in, like say, Kendrick Perkins. He also has a backup in Sam Cassell who has a highlight DVD full of big shots taken, and made, in his long and storied career.

Rondo has been the best, and most consistent player, on the Celtics in their first-round series against the Hawks, and he will have to be this good, if not better, if they are to keep playing late into June. He knows this. The Celtics know it, and the rest of the league knows it too.

None of this, however, seems to cause him one ounce of consternation. (more…)

The year isn’t even half over, and already 10 women have died in domestic homicides. The latest is 29-year-old Barbara Tassinari, whose husband John Tassinari allegedly shot her multiple times on Wednesday night in Abington.

Details of the Tassinari’s relationship are coming out, and it’s sad to see that Barbara’s family didn’t understand how much trouble she was in.

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Your condensed guide to today’s daily papers.

It’s easy being Harvard: The university just received a $100 million gift from David Rockefeller. It’s the largest alumni donation in the institution’s history of huge gifts. [Globe]

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Your long day of corporate drudgery is over. Get out and enjoy the city! Here are a few ideas to get you started, lovingly picked by Boston Daily.

Nothing brings women together like Botox. Dr. Ruth Tedaldi doles out skincare advice at MiniLuxe’s Girls’ Night Out Botox Party. Two Botox sessions will be raffled off during the event. Really.

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It’s been a while since we’ve been to New York City. (We’ve been waiting for that sweet $1 bus ticket.) But the good people at New York magazine’s Daily Intel wrote about a Big Apple phenomenon called Taxi TV.

Please God, don’t let anyone bring this horrible idea to Boston.

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