Ladies First?

Monday, April 9, 2018

The weekend's newspaper had several numbers that surprised me.  First, there was an extensive study of evictions nationwide.  https://nyti.ms/2GIJfrq

While we think that Americans are afforded equal justice under the law, location, location location seems to be as significant to evictions as to real estate generally.  One in 25 Milwaukee renters faced eviction, while the eager landlords in Richmond, Virginia threatened one in five renters with eviction while actually moving against one in nine.  The article lists the top ten locations with the highest eviction judgment rates.  Five of the ten are "in Virginia, which lacks some tenant rights available in other states."  Not surprising was the correlation of evictions with poverty, a low minimum wage and a high concentration of African-Americans.  
 
Locally, I was surprised to learn that there are 612 Dunkin’ Donuts and 433 Subway sandwich shops in New York City, obviously succeeding in the absence of my patronage.  https://nyti.ms/2EprveB  

Finally, how many airlines do you think there are in the world?  That's a question that I never contemplated before and I don't even know what I might guess.  A profile of a master chef reported that his company provides meals for about 300 airlines.  
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/06/business/airline-chef-tastes.html

The International Air Transport Association (IATA), a trade association of major airlines, has 278 members.  However, IATA and the International Civil Aviation Organization have designators (abbreviations or tags) for about 5,000 airlines.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_airline_codes

Not included is Mrs. Grace L. Ferguson's Storm Door & Airlines Company made famous by Bob Newhart.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvx0Duqy3N8

 

Tuesday, April 10, 2018

Today is Equal Pay Day.  The average woman who worked throughout 2017 and continued until today earned what the average man earned in 2017.  In case you would like to read a tortured defense of this disparity, go to http://thefederalist.com/2018/04/10/equal-pay-day-hype-ignores-the-facts-and-womens-feelings-about-the-workplace/

Back in the real world, according to the 2016 Census, where the average white male earns $1, a Latina earns 54¢, a Native American woman 57¢, a black woman 63¢, a white woman 79¢ and an Asian woman 89¢. 

If you really want to groove on statistics in this subject, see

https://iwpr.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/C467_2018-Occupational-Wage-Gap.pdf

 

Wednesday, April 11, 2018

Republican Speaker of the House Paul Ryan announced today that he will not run for reelection, removing him from an office that placed him immediately behind the vice president in the line of presidential succession.  He acted in deep disappointment at being omitted from the latest edition of "Profiles in Courage."
. . .

 

At first, I was surprised to read today that Il Laboratorio del Gelato, a provider of high quality ice cream to local restaurants, has 275 flavors.  That seems like a large number, but a quick look into the Gotthelf Files shows that it is really not that unusual.  Herrell's of Northampton, Massachusetts has a master list of 300 flavors; it regularly offers about 40 in its flagship store.
http://www.herrells.com/frozen-treats/gourmet-premium-ice-cream 

Quality does not suffer at Herrell's because of quantity.  On two visits to Herrell's last year, I really enjoyed coconut chocolate chip, "More cookies than cream", "Emerald City" (peppermint ice cream with Andes mints and green sprinkles), and mudpie (espresso ice cream with Oreos and a fudge swirl).  Before I reach for the car keys, I remind myself of the proximity of Ample Hills Creamery, in the Gotham West Market, 600 11th Avenue (45th Street).  It only serves 12 flavors at a time, but it comes up with some that Herrell's hasn't imagined yet, such as, Salted Crack Caramel (salted caramel ice cream, with saltines covered in butter, sugar and chocolate) and "Ooey Gooey Butter Cake" (vanilla ice cream with cream cheese and "St. Louis-style" butter cake).  Isn't ice cream wonderful?

 

Thursday, April 12, 2018

It is Stony Brook Steve's birthday and we celebrated at lunch at LaSalle Dumpling Room, 25 West End Avenue, a frequent destination when foregoing Chinatown.  We ate up a storm: pan fried pork dumplings ($9 for 6 pieces), spicy chicken dumplings ($9 for 6 pieces), popcorn chicken ($11.95), cold sesame noodles ($8.50) and beef wrapped scallion pancake ($9.95).  To further celebrate the occasion, I had a passion fruit slush ($4.25).  A fine party.

Friday, April 13, 2018

"Knowledge Gap Hinders Ability of Congress to Regulate Silicon Valley"  This a headline in today's paper that could be used in Mad Libs (that wonderful series created by Roger Price, Leonard Stern and Larry Sloan).  Ask for any noun in place of "Silicon Valley." 

. . .

 

Tonight, we went to dinner at Riverpark, 450 East 29th Street, a restaurant indeed edging on the East River.  The occasion was in honor of the recent Bat Mitzvah of Leonore Max, only a few decades after she graduated from medical school.  While she has never wielded a scalpel around me, she handled the Hebrew texts with care and confidence.

 

Her husband Jon Silverberg picked the restaurant, which the New York Times describes as "hard to find, . . . occupying a chasm between the New York University Medical Center and the sprawling wards of Bellevue Hospital Center."  The review concludes that "[i]t is a sophisticated restaurant with an excellent kitchen, moderately priced, with good service," an opinion we now share with the vital exception of the immoderate pricing.  With that understood, you can have a very lovely evening.