Monday, March 19, 2018
Saturday crossword
40 Down -- Mideast diet
40 Down -- Mideast diet
. . .
Way to go Vladimir. The people have spoken.
. . .
. . .
The New York Times offers us a test of our copy editing skills. Try it; it's a bit humbling.
https://www.nytimes.com/intera
. . .
Bourbon praline pecan ice cream is a new flavor for Häagen-Dazs and it is really good. Note that it contains bourbon whisky, which you will immediately notice. https://www.nytimes.com/intera
. . .
A natural followup to that Häagen-Dazs news is a study of the fattest cities in the US. Americans are apparently the fattest people in the world. "In fact,
as of 2017, almost 40% of the U.S. population aged 15 and older is
obese."
https://wallethub.com/edu/fatt
https://wallethub.com/edu/fatt
For
whatever it's worth, the Old South seems to be the home of the wide
beam, taking the first 16 spots. The New York metropolitan area is
buried at 64th place. Drilling down, you will see that physical
activity and consumption of fruits and vegetables comport with obesity
(or the lack thereof). Ice cream, Chinese food, obesity. No collusion! Just a witch hunt.
Tuesday, March 20, 2018
Every day's news contains material that ranges from the maddening to the disgusting, by way of the unbelievable. A feature article today, however, brings additional understanding and some confusion to America's near intractable racial divide.
https://www.nytimes.com/intera
"Black boys raised in America, even in the wealthiest families and living in some of the most well-to-do neighborhoods, still earn less in adulthood than white boys with similar backgrounds . . . . White boys who grow up rich are likely to remain that way. Black boys raised at the top, however, are more likely to become poor than to stay wealthy in their own adult households." This dashes the hopes and expectations of those who fought so long to remove the legal and social barriers to an open, integrated society.
What's remarkable is the gender divide which seems to defy the racial divide. On the whole, black women proceed up the socioeconomic ladder, or maintain their position, very similarly to white women. Of course, incarceration and the legacy of a criminal record will frustrate efforts to acquire or remain in a financially sound position. Studies show that Black men are significantly more likely to be stopped while driving or walking on a city street. https://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?
"[C]riminal courts sentence black defendants more harshly than whites. . . . [and] African-American defendants get more time behind bars — sometimes twice the prison terms of whites with identical criminal histories — when they commit the same crimes under identical circumstances." http://www.sentencingproject.o
Tuesday, March 20, 2018
Every day's news contains material that ranges from the maddening to the disgusting, by way of the unbelievable. A feature article today, however, brings additional understanding and some confusion to America's near intractable racial divide.
https://www.nytimes.com/intera
"Black boys raised in America, even in the wealthiest families and living in some of the most well-to-do neighborhoods, still earn less in adulthood than white boys with similar backgrounds . . . . White boys who grow up rich are likely to remain that way. Black boys raised at the top, however, are more likely to become poor than to stay wealthy in their own adult households." This dashes the hopes and expectations of those who fought so long to remove the legal and social barriers to an open, integrated society.
What's remarkable is the gender divide which seems to defy the racial divide. On the whole, black women proceed up the socioeconomic ladder, or maintain their position, very similarly to white women. Of course, incarceration and the legacy of a criminal record will frustrate efforts to acquire or remain in a financially sound position. Studies show that Black men are significantly more likely to be stopped while driving or walking on a city street. https://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?
"[C]riminal courts sentence black defendants more harshly than whites. . . . [and] African-American defendants get more time behind bars — sometimes twice the prison terms of whites with identical criminal histories — when they commit the same crimes under identical circumstances." http://www.sentencingproject.o
Are
the racial disparities in our criminal justice system also potent
enough to pull down so many black men from the comfortable and stable
home lives of their youth, even while their sisters remain unaffected?
Have the clichés about black crime
(listen to Rudy Giuliani on the subject) become self-fulfilling
prophecies? I find this the most challenging question raised by the New York Times study.
Wednesday, March 21, 2018
Consider
the opening sentence of an article in today's business section.
"Perhaps at some point in the past few years you’ve told Facebook that
you like, say, Kim Kardashian West." While
I don't know all of you (readers) personally, I would venture that you
are more likely to choose to take a vacation in Kabul, Afghanistan than
tell Facebook that you like, say, Kim Kardashian West. This article
discusses the belief that algorithms can predict the nuances of your political views, based on the usage of social media, Facebook specifically. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/0
Crudely,
it appears to be a two-step process: 1) develop a personality profile
from the "likes" and "dislikes" expressed on Facebook; 2) connect that
personality profile or portions thereof to a candidate or a cause. The
money is made by advising the candidate or cause on how to maximize
his/her/its appeal by microtargeting. Political campaigning and
advertising generally have always sought to identify the
voter's/consumer's hot button(s). It seems that we have a lot more to
worry about now that the game has moved beyond cynical Mad Men to
cynical computer scientists.
Thursday, March 22, 2018
I
am connected to Great Britain only by some warm friendships. I am pure
Yid; I have no ancestral, genetic or historic link to the United
Kingdom. However, I admit to Anglophilia extending even beyond "Downton
Abbey" and "Call the Midwife." Way back in graduate school, I unsuccessfully
proposed a study of the political behavior of British Jews. Were they
as liberal as their American brethren, in spite of the prevalence of
economic and educational factors that usually breed conservatism in both
societies?
I found a
recent study on "Antisemitism in Contemporary Great Britain"
particularly interesting. It was done by a Jewish scholar, sponsored by
a Jewish organization. http://www.jpr.org.uk/document
Besides
reporting the statistics, the author does a good job with some basic,
but elusive, definitions. He effectively delineates "antisemitism
and anti-Israelism" and finds that a "majority of those who hold
anti-Israel attitudes do not espouse any antisemitic attitudes." He
also distinguishes antisemitism emerging from the far-right, the
far-left and Muslims in Britain. He concludes that "the most
antisemitic group on the political spectrum consists of those who
identify as very right-wing." The good news is that "the total level of
the diffusion of antisemitism in Great Britain is, in fact, rather
low."
. . .
. . .
Grain House, 929
Amsterdam Avenue, is the third location for this Long Island-based chain
of Szechuan restaurants. Stony Brook Steve and I had lunch there
today. It is a small space, about 8 tables, with a very large menu,
about 120 distinct items. The location is a bit odd. About half a mile
south of Columbia University and only slightly closer to Symphony Space. The food itself, however, is a sufficient lure if you are anywhere close by.
We shared pork vegetable dumplings ($7.95 for 8 pieces) and each of us had a lunch special, cumin chicken for me ($7.95) and scallion beef ($8.95) for Steve. What made the specials special was a mound of white rice served with approximately a main course size portion of the selected dish, a reasonable deal. The cumin chicken was appropriately spicy; I left over a mound of red hot peppers after ingesting many slices of the cumin-coated white meat chicken.
Friday, March 23, 2018
Netflix is showing a six-part documentary titled "Wild Wild Country" about the guru Bhagwan
Shree Rajneesh. After establishing a very popular ashram in India, he
moved his operation to 64,000 empty acres in Oregon in 1981. It is a
fascinating story, partly because of the sight of hordes of enraptured
Americans worshiping at Bhagwan's feet. My immediate reaction was these
people did not grow up in Brooklyn. If they grew up in Brooklyn, they
would have a functioning BS Detector®.
. . .
. . .
Answer: Knesset
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