Saturday, October 13, 2018
11 Down -- Leaves work?
Monday, October 15, 2018
I'm not a lover, I'm not a fighter, but I'm definitely a looker. An attractive woman or a particularly well-dressed man will receive my appreciative glance. Over the decades, I have certainly been boorish, but never physically or sexually abusive. Even as we increasingly expect men to act in a civilized manner with women, to practice restraint even when hormones are raging, and remain aware of disparities in power, based on physical strength, position or status, we should recognize the contraindicated popularity of "slutty" clothing, mostly among young and youngish women.
A good (bad) example of this style trend can be found in an article in (what I persist in calling) the society pages of The New York Times this weekend. https://nyti.ms/2A4a0Sb (Try to find the printed version, which literally illustrates the subject better than the electronic version.) The article deals with new lines of wedding dresses. In print, six dresses are shown; three of the color photographs are 3" x 5 3/4", the other three are 2" x 4". Four of the dresses have very deep cleavage, one other is seemingly transparent with strategically appliqued flowers, and one completely see-through above the waist. Yes, you can see it (them) all. By the way, 4 of the 5 designers identified are women and the other is a collective.
A wedding day is all about brides. (One or two grooms marching down the aisle never reach that Wow factor.) Will some weddings be labelled "For Adults Only"? Are we being dared not to look? No, I don't think that "they are asking for it," an insulting suggestion, but I think that it is reasonable to ask "what are they thinking?" Here is one explanation: "The reason why people want to wear the slutty style is because they want to look more appealing to others or look more liberated by wearing sexy or skimpy clothing." http://www.differencebetween.
There are so many other ways of looking more appealing or looking more liberated than displays of flesh that will inevitably attract unwanted stares or worse. Just who are the "others" being appealed to and do you really want to appeal to them? Need common sense be abandoned to signify liberation? Should I be embarrassed when some women go to great lengths to embarrass themselves?
I'm not a lover, I'm not a fighter, but I'm definitely a looker. An attractive woman or a particularly well-dressed man will receive my appreciative glance. Over the decades, I have certainly been boorish, but never physically or sexually abusive. Even as we increasingly expect men to act in a civilized manner with women, to practice restraint even when hormones are raging, and remain aware of disparities in power, based on physical strength, position or status, we should recognize the contraindicated popularity of "slutty" clothing, mostly among young and youngish women.
A good (bad) example of this style trend can be found in an article in (what I persist in calling) the society pages of The New York Times this weekend. https://nyti.ms/2A4a0Sb (Try to find the printed version, which literally illustrates the subject better than the electronic version.) The article deals with new lines of wedding dresses. In print, six dresses are shown; three of the color photographs are 3" x 5 3/4", the other three are 2" x 4". Four of the dresses have very deep cleavage, one other is seemingly transparent with strategically appliqued flowers, and one completely see-through above the waist. Yes, you can see it (them) all. By the way, 4 of the 5 designers identified are women and the other is a collective.
A wedding day is all about brides. (One or two grooms marching down the aisle never reach that Wow factor.) Will some weddings be labelled "For Adults Only"? Are we being dared not to look? No, I don't think that "they are asking for it," an insulting suggestion, but I think that it is reasonable to ask "what are they thinking?" Here is one explanation: "The reason why people want to wear the slutty style is because they want to look more appealing to others or look more liberated by wearing sexy or skimpy clothing." http://www.differencebetween.
There are so many other ways of looking more appealing or looking more liberated than displays of flesh that will inevitably attract unwanted stares or worse. Just who are the "others" being appealed to and do you really want to appeal to them? Need common sense be abandoned to signify liberation? Should I be embarrassed when some women go to great lengths to embarrass themselves?
In digging around, I found
this headline: "How To Still Dress Slutty Even In Winter When It's Freezing Outside."
https://www.elitedaily.com/
Tuesday, October 16, 2018
PRESIDENTIAL LIE DETECTOR
Believe Don't Believe
Saudi Arabia Women
Vladimir Putin Scientists
Kim Jung-un The New York Times
Kim Jung-un The New York Times
. . .
Open
Table is a convenient web site for making restaurant reservations. It
even worked in London. It also serves to remind you of restaurants by
location or cuisine, if you need a hint. Last night, it published the
"Best Overall Restaurants in Manhattan." https://www.opentable.com/s/
Open
Table claims that it creates its list from the preceding month's
reviews. While I use the program, I never followup with reviews, but
apparently a lot of other folk do, more than 400,000 monthly. This past
month, 4 of the top 10 local restaurants were Japanese, 1 Korean, 2 French, 2
American and 1 Italian. What would interest me is a frequency
distribution of reservations made by cuisine. I don't mean to
substitute quantity for quality, but I am curious about the dining
habits of my fellow inmates.
. . .
No question about the Boyz Club at lunch. Eight of us met at Jing Fong, 20 Elizabeth Street, that cavernous dim sum palace. I always promise myself to record everything we eat when having dim sum, but those eager ladies rolling those carts at us from every direction don't give me a chance to take notes. All I can report is that we had 23 items, 3 or 4 pieces on a plate, costing each of us $15, with generous tip.
No question about the Boyz Club at lunch. Eight of us met at Jing Fong, 20 Elizabeth Street, that cavernous dim sum palace. I always promise myself to record everything we eat when having dim sum, but those eager ladies rolling those carts at us from every direction don't give me a chance to take notes. All I can report is that we had 23 items, 3 or 4 pieces on a plate, costing each of us $15, with generous tip.
Wednesday, October 17, 2018
Certainly,
my list of "best" restaurants would contain some Chinese and I was
happy to have had very good Chinese food in London. However, I was not
willing to give the British the opportunity to challenge American
hegemony in hamburgers. So, today, in order to restore the
natural order of things, I had lunch at Island Burgers & Shakes,
422 Amsterdam Avenue, which is, of course, on Manhattan Island. It's a
narrow joint, with 7 two tops and a bar with 5 stools. Corrugated
aluminum covers the ceiling, one wall is exposed brick and the floor is
lightly-stained wood planks. It achieves the funky look that it aims
for.
Lunch offers a good
bargain, cheeseburger or chicken sandwich, French fries or salad, and
draft beer or canned soda for $14.95 including tax. Other hours, the cheeseburger alone is $14.95. I had a
cheeseburger, choosing mozzarella among six alternatives, served with
lettuce, tomato, fresh onion and pickle chips. The large meat patty,
nearly 1/2 pound I estimate, was well cooked, too well, in fact. I
asked for medium rare and, as too often the case, got medium. Had I
asked for rare, I might have had nothing to complain about.
Thursday, October 18, 2018
Hamburgers
are not the only vital nutritional category that goes unsatisfied in
London. I had to pass on pizza. I chose to fill in this gap today at ōath Pizza, 2169 Broadway, a new joint, new locally that is, part of a chain that started around Boston. It features 8 versions, 7 at $11, 1 at $12.50,
in interesting combinations, e.g., "The David" containing balsamic
vinegar, mozzarella, roasted mushrooms, sweet Italian sausage, ricotta
and fresh basil. You can have a basic cheese pizza at $8 or concoct your own version for $11.
Half pies can be ordered for about 2/3 the price, but, let me warn you,
the whole pie is only about 7" in diameter and you won't swear off your
next meal after finishing one.
On
the other hand, what I had was delicious, this week's special, a banh
mi pizza, the intersection of Italy and Vietnam ($12). It tasted like a
hot, open-faced banh mi sandwich. Besides the imagination, the crust
was particularly memorable. Sayeth a food writer: "At Oath, it’s all about the crust. Theirs is perfectly crispy made with
100 percent pure grain North Dakota Mills flour that is flash seared in
pure olive oil then grilled in a convection oven for just 90 seconds
delivering a perfectly golden, chewy crust." https://www.chowhound.com/
Another positive at ōath
is the soda fountain, a do-it-yourself number with a wonderful array of
flavors -- pineapple cream, orange hibiscus, classic root beer, black
cherry with tarragon, and agave vanilla cream in addition to draft cola
with and without sugar.
To sum up, ignore the pretentious format of its name, which only appears sporadically in its print materials, and order maybe two pizzas to fill you up.
To sum up, ignore the pretentious format of its name, which only appears sporadically in its print materials, and order maybe two pizzas to fill you up.
Friday, October 19, 2018
I
learned from the New York City Transit Museum that Monday, December 29,
1947 was the busiest day in our subway history. While the daily
average these days is 5.7 million rides, 8,533,468 rides were recorded
on the first workday after the city's largest snowfall ever, 26.4" on
Friday, December 26th, bringing most transportation to a standstill for
days thereafter. https://www.6sqft.com/
Grandpa Alan, then Cute Little Alan, remembers looking out over the snow drifts on Pitkin Avenue and seeing downed overhead wires, either power or telephone. Then, everything's a fog until I passed the bar exam.
. . .
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