Saturday, August 17, 2019

¿Cómo te llamas?

Monday, August 12, 2019
Which side are you on?  The New York Times offers literally a graphic illustration of the differences between Republicans and Democrats.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/08/opinion/sunday/party-polarization-quiz.html
. . .
In another field of battle, "[t]he results of this study found that NFL players had a significantly elevated rate of all-cause mortality compared with MLB players, driven by elevated rates of cardiovascular and neurodegenerative mortality."
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2734063?utm_source=undefined&utm_campaign=content-shareicons&utm_content=article_engagement&utm_medium=social&utm_term=080919#.XU2_NUP8cE4.email

It's no surprise that professional football players have a greater risk of brain-related diseases than professional baseball players.  However, the authors waffle about the notable difference in cardiovascular disease.  My in-house epidemiologist reminds me of the healthy worker effect, physical attributes generally distinguish athletes from the rest of us.  Here, less surprisingly, the scientists determined that at any given age, major league baseball players are 24 percent less likely to die than men in the general population. 
. . .
An essay in The Guardian has brilliant insight into the president.  "He is disturbingly consistent in what he has always been: showman, chauvinist, charlatan.  What he is doing is testing how far a man like that is able to push the boundaries of what a president can be.  He has been more successful than many people believed was possible.  His willingness to say anything – and possibly to believe anything – in order to get his way turns out to be a surprisingly effective means of maximising his authority.  Given that a majority of Americans revile him, he has done quite a lot with the limited power he has.  Perhaps he too bucks the fable of The Wizard of Oz.  He simply refuses to acknowledge the existence of the curtain."
. . .
On May 12, 2011, I visited Big Wing Wong Restaurant, 300 Grand Street; when I returned on June 25, 2015, it was called Big Hing Wong Restaurant.  Today, when I met Naz at that location, it was called Delight Wong.  From my notes, I cannot discern any difference among the establishments except creeping inflation in the prices.

It is long and narrow, with 50 seats at 13 tables.  One or two Chinese men sat at almost every table.  A waist-to-ceiling mirror ran along the entire east wall.  Pictures and what were probably Chinese language descriptions of food covered most of the opposite wall.  The very long menu captured most of Chinatown, but Naz picked two items less familiar to me, Hong Kong-style lo mein (actually angel hair) with ginger & scallion ($6.25) and Amoy chow fun (substituted for mei fun) with pickled vegetables ($8).  The lo mein was a revelation.  Usually, you get ginger and scallion with steamed fish, but it worked very well with noodles.  Chow fun, the wide noodle, is far removed from the skinny mei fun and the Amoy version was a good complement.  It contained slivers of meat, slivers of pickled melon, shrimp, green onion and egg.  It differed from the chow fun I worship at Wo Hop, because it was cooked in a lighter, milder tasting oil.  We added shrimp egg foo young over rice as a bow to convention ($7.25).  In all, an excellent lunch.  

Tuesday, August 13, 2019
Today's paper tells us: "The luxury brands Coach and Givenchy joined Versace on Monday in apologizing to China for producing T-shirts that were regarded to have undermined the country’s sovereignty."  Consider purchasing the following if you wish to undermine a couple of sovereignties.  


Wednesday, August 14, 2019
I had lunch with Irwin Pronin, 1962 CCNY Student Government President, possibly in an attempt to turn back the clock. We went to Up Thai, 1411 Second Avenue, a very physically attractive spot. A narrow space opens up to an exposed brick and wood-planked room, with abundant greenery lit by a colorful lighting fixture. It was also remarkably crowded at lunch time, as if it were at the foot of the high-rise commercial towers in midtown, rather than a residential neighborhood with lots of empty storefronts.

It offers a lunch special, priced by the central ingredient. You have a choice of soup or salad, a vorspeis (appetizer) and then it gets complicated. There are four major categories of preparation, sauteed, curry, noodles and rice. Each, in turn, has four or more different styles, sauces and ingredients. On top, you choose your protein, chicken, beef, pork, shrimp, tofu, duck, squid. Let me count the ways.

I had a cup of tasty vegetable broth and two small wedges of "Fried Chive Pancake," which I enjoyed but could never identify as such. My main course was crispy duck pra ram, with vegetables sauteed in peanut sauce and a mound of white rice ($16). Other combinations began at $11. It might be exhausting pursuing every permutation, but you'll get some good meals along the way.

Thursday, August 15, 2019
Grow Up, Israel.  Or, should I say, Go Back to when your leaders, right and left, were willing to confront and deal with sworn enemies, notably Yasser Arafat.  Instead, now you are unwilling to allow two United States Congress members to enter the country.  Granted that Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, Muslims, accept and espouse conventional Palestinian views, which are inherently
anti-Zionist and anti-Israel, and are inclined towards anti-Semitic rhetoric.  But, let them see for themselves the successes and failures of Israel’s policies towards Arabs within and without its borders.  Ignorance is a blight and Israel should not propagate it.
. . .
A new study allegedly identifies the best career opportunities in days to come.
https://www.glassdoor.com/research/studies/best-career-opportunities/

As you can see, sex appeal does not seem to go with financial success, as tax manager, audit manager and dentist are at the top of the list.  Maybe you can have a rich fantasy life.
. . .
Another way to pick your career path might be to go, in the immortal words of the bank robber Willie Sutton, where the money is.  Try and get a job with an extremely generous employer, such as Madrigal Pharmaceuticals in Pennsylvania, median salary $804,000, the highest in the state.  Of course, you'll have to learn to spell Conshohocken, or at least pronounce it.  This article names the highest paying employer in each state, based on straight salary, not commissions, bonuses, or padded expense accounts.  http://money.com/money/5651148/highest-paying-company-by-state/?utm_source=emailshare&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=email-share-article&utm_content=20190815

Hint, skip Montana and Vermont.  You won't gross a grand a week there.

Friday, August 16, 2019
I am pretty nutsed out by the Satanic alliance between Trump and Netanyahu.  Add to that the brutality in Hong Kong and the forgiving attitude of the normally belligerent Commander Bonespurs.  I needed some low hanging fruit, some simple issue to divert me.  The back page of the main section of today's New York Times provided that relief.  It carried a full page ad, headlined in Spanish, calling for justice for refugees.  Much of the page listed hundreds of supporters of the appeal.  Almost all had Hispanic last names.  The random Kelly was Fernanda and Dawson was Rosario.

What was my problem?  The long list was alphabetical by FIRST NAME.  Admittedly, there were fewer Juans and Marias than I might have guessed, but this was no place to separate families.
. . .
Here is an addition to my file of unpublished letters to the editor, responding to an article in last Sunday's New York Times:
A patron of an exercise facility owned indirectly by a supporter of the president is quoted as saying, "What about the Democrats and the liberals?  More hate spews from them."  You deferentially describe the speaker as "circumspect."  


Wouldn't it be more accurate to describe him as baselessly speculating?  

All persons may be created equal, but not all statements deserve uncritical repetition.

2 comments:

  1. My father always said that if you want to have many well-paid job opportunities, study accounting. Apparently, positions for CPAs or Management and Tax Accountants are always in the top 10 list.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Your father was an interesting man unlike many of the accountants you and I both knew and worked with.

    ReplyDelete