Thursday update: If you park Downtown, check the underside of your car

An alarming post on Memphis Reddit was called to my attention yesterday afternoon. Criminals have been going around to parking garages and lots in the Downtown area and cutting catalytic converters off cars. “My car sounded like a drag racer,” said the person who reported the thefts on Reddit. If this happens to you, you should have your car towed to a mechanic immediately. The toxic fumes a car releases without a catalytic converter make it unsafe for you to drive and also are bad for the environment.

From The Balance: What to do if your catalytic converter was stolen. Crooks can cut this part off the underside of your car in under a minute. Vehicles that are parked higher up off the ground are at higher risk. Vehicles parked in the same space for several days are at risk too – which is the case for many cars whose owners both live and work Downtown.

Thanks to one of my neighbors, who pointed out something I missed in the comments – the reported theft happened in “the garage across from Raiford’s” on Second. That would be the garage where most of the car owners who live in my building park. Folks, go check your cars!

The mechanic told the original poster this was the fourth catalytic converter theft he had heard of in recent days. A commenter said that the same thing had happened out in The Edge in the Monroe-Marshall area.

Good weather news this weekend:

How about taking advantage of that gorgeous weather brunching on a patio? Info from Cocozza, the pop-up Italian American restaurant inside The Majestic Grille:

Brunch is BACK at Main & Peabody Place! Starting THIS Sat & Sun, you’ll be able to enjoy an alfresco brunch on Main once again. Dine in only. Reservations Required. Call 901-523-0523 to book. Sat 11-2, Sun 10-2 Lemon Ricotta Pancakes, Italian Sausage, Pepper & Onion Frittata, Florentine Benedict, Meatballs & Polenta, Country fried Steak & Eggs with mushroom gravy to make a few. Enjoy an Antipasti Bloody Mary, a Bellini or even a Majestic Mimosa! #cocozzamemphis #cocozza #majesticgrille #ghostrestaurant #brunch #brunchtime #majesticmimosa #americanitalianfood

Antipasti Bloody Mary? Yuuuummmmm! Note that you must have reservations.

If you missed the National Civil Rights Museum’s seminar last night, “Understanding White Privilege: A Key to Dismantling Systemic Racism,” you can watch the presentation on YouTube.

The NCAA Division I Council has set November 25 as the date when men’s and women’s college basketball can start the 2020-2021 season. There will be no games including exhibitions or scrimmages before that date.

The University of Memphis has confirmed 46 COVID-19 cases, with 42 in athletics. The other four are in a cluster connected to the cheer squad.  Football head coach Ryan Silverfield denied that all 42 athletics cases are connected to football.

WMC Action News 5 will broadcast an election countdown tonight at 9. They’ll have everything you need to know about the fall election including mail-in voting.

MATA has launched GO901, a new mobile fare website and smartphone app.

There’s a pay-what-you-can Kemetic Yoga class tonight at 6:30 at River Garden. With a sunset at 7:02, that should be beautiful. YOGA!

While reading Medium yesterday, I found three of the best links I’ve ever read about narcissistic personality disorder (NPD). The book I read last year addressed narcissism on the “doing” level: How do they get away with the things they do? These articles address narcissism on the “being” level: Why are narcissists the way they are?

These links are behind Medium’s paywall, and since they’re not my articles I can’t help you out with special URLs to circumvent it. If you run out of your monthly allotment of free Medium articles and don’t want to pay the $5 fee, try this: Google the term object constancy. Quora, the ask-a-question, get-an-answer website, also has a lot of good stuff.

I’ll even throw in a bonus. Google the narcissistic smirk. It’s one of their tell-tale signs and you can catch it in photos sometimes.

All right. Time to go to work, then after that, writing on Medium. I am really mad at myself for not publishing anything on that platform yesterday and am going to try to double up today. As usual, I’ll play the noon COVID-19 press conference by ear: It there’s news about the bars and restaurants, I’ll be back this afternoon with a report. Otherwise, the recap will be in tomorrow’s update.