Monday, July 29, 2019
“Previously heralded as a boon to democracy, the internet is now being blamed for its demise.” Stanford University professor Nathaniel Persily introduces a challenging report with this comment. https://storage.googleapis.
“Previously heralded as a boon to democracy, the internet is now being blamed for its demise.” Stanford University professor Nathaniel Persily introduces a challenging report with this comment. https://storage.googleapis.
It's
shorter than the Mueller Report and is intended to be a step in "how
best to realize the original egalitarian, freedom-enhancing, and
pro-democracy vision of the internet, while cabining the influence of
actors that seek to use these new technologies to undermine democracy
itself." That should get you reading.
. . .
. . .
The New York Times had a wonderful feature this weekend, subtitled "Every state has an infamous crime — and a book about it." https://www.nytimes.com/2019/
I enjoyed the thumbnail comment on each of the 50 selections, several I know, such as In Cold Blood (Kansas), and others I intend to read soon, such as The Brothers about the Boston Marathon Bombers.
. . .
. . .
The
list of 50 books above treats each state equally, demonstrating the
omnipresence of depravity and violence. However, crime rates vary
widely, as do other factors that might determine where you want to be
parked as your mind and body deteriorate. Thus, we have the latest look
at "The Best (and Worst) Places to Retire"https://www.nytimes.
The selections suggest satire; Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri and South Dakota are supposedly the best, based on affordability (40%), crime (5%), culture (15%), weather (15%), and the overall health of the
population and the availability of health care services (25%).
I
don't want to sound too defensive in questioning the position of New
York State as next to last, between Alaska and Maryland. Affordability,
with its large chunk, certainly disfavors New York, but what the hell
are you going to spend your money on in Nebraska?
Tuesday, July 30, 2019
Jing
Fong, 20 Elizabeth Street, has been my frequent destination for dim sum over the years, whether alone when still working at the nearby
courthouse or with my cluster of friends formerly useful to society.
Accordingly, several of the latter have already sent me the electronic
version of an article about Jing Fong that will appear in print this
weekend.https://www.nytimes.com/2019/
All
of my many visits have been on weekdays, avoiding the weekend lines out
to Canal Street described in the article. Only once our crowd showed
up in the middle of the weeks-long Chinese New Year celebration and had
to wait 30 minutes to get in. Otherwise, we have readily found 6 or 8
seats among the 800 available to sit down and stuff our faces.
By
the way, Wikipedia says that Jing Fong is the largest restaurant in
Chinatown, but I understood that it is the largest in the Holy Land,
evidence of which eludes me. A second branch has opened at 380
Amsterdam Avenue, just a short egg roll from Palazzo di Gotthelf, but I
find myself unable to patronize it.
. . .
. . .
Stuyvesant
graduate Melanie L.S. sent me this inspiring article about an auto
mechanic who graduated medical school at 47 years old.
https://www.cleveland.com/
https://www.cleveland.com/
I
grant that he had a tougher road than someone who graduated law school
at 59 years old, although I welcome him to a relatively selective club.
. . .
Last
week, I went to a Chinese restaurant in Queens purely for gustatory
reasons. Today, I went to another with the additional purpose of
catching up with Max, formerly the Wonder Boy, when he applied his
analytic and predictive skills to Mets games that we attended together.
Memories of Shanghai, 68-60 Austin Street, Forest Hills, requires
dedication to find. It is at the end of an alley beyond a bank of
stores and an office building all bearing the number 68-60. Like White
Bear in Flushing, it is tiny. Your choice of seating is one four-top,
one two-top and a counter with four stools.
And the food is excellent. We had Shanghai Steamed Soup Dumplings ($6.75 for 6), pan fried pork dumplings ($6.75 for 4), scallion pancake ($3.75), shrimp dumplings ($6.95 for
4) and scallion pancake with beef ($6.25). Everything is made for you,
steamed, fried, boiled while you wait. Make a detour; visit your old
aunt; look up a high school friend. Go to Memories of Shanghai.
Wednesday, July 31, 2019
I learned from a book review today how Kurt Vonnegut regarded semicolons; "All they do is show you've been to college."
. . .
Speaking
of Shanghai, my niece Susan is on vacation from her position as a
librarian at an English-language school in Shanghai. For her, an
appropriate treat would be the superlative Kosher delicatessen at
Pastrami Queen, 1025 Lexington Avenue, unlike anything to be found on
the entire Asian continent.
She
stuck to corned beef, while her father and I mixed and matched halves
of corned beef and pastrami sandwiches ($20 each). I over-ordered so that
America's Favorite Epidemiologist, who could not join us, would have a
treat at dinner.
. . .
. . .
Narcolepsy is a sleep disorder characterized by excessive sleepiness. The following statement should help keep you awake. "Already this year, there have been 3,494 successful cyberattacks against financial institutions, according to reports filed with the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network."
Thursday, August 1, 2019
In
case your bank account has not been emptied by a stranger, you might
enjoy seeing how you fit in the economic scheme of things. https://www.nytimes.com/
Assuming
you give a fairly honest answer about your annual income, you'll learn
whether you are a have or a have-not and where you might relocate to
change from one to the other. For instance, if you are 40 years old, live in Albany, New York and your household income is $104,000, you stand in the 60th percentile of your age group, while you would be in the 80th percentile in Albany, Georgia. If you hung around until you were 65 years old, you would be in the 80th percentile of your age group in Albany, New York and 85th percentile of your age group in Albany, Georgia.
To get to the top 5% in the Social Security set in Albany, New York, you would need a household income over $186,000, but only over $154,000 in Albany, Georgia.
. . .
. . .
Two weeks ago, I noted that the New York Times
commended Bamboo Garden, 6409 8th Avenue, Brooklyn, as "no finer place
to eat dim sum in New York." Today, the Boyz Club tested that
proposition. Six of us descended on this extremely busy, extremely
gaudy, extremely noisy joint for lunch.
Was
it the best? Maybe. It was a good deal, coming to $17 a person for
the 19 dishes that we shared. It had some concoctions that I had not seen
before at Jing Fong, Royal Seafood or Golden Unicorn and the "regular"
things were consistently good. However, Tom Terrific, Naz and I agreed
that Tim Ho Wan's baked BBQ pork buns reign supreme.
The
restaurant is in Sunset Park, a Brooklyn neighborhood that could not be further from where I grew up in Brooklyn. It now contains one of New York's 5
Chinatowns, which is just about the right number to keep us well fed.
Another reason that the Holy Land is Holy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_in_New_York_City
Actually, this article comes up with a larger number of Chinatowns by recognizing villages within towns, akin to the governmental hierarchy in Massachusetts; "In Massachusetts, villages usually do not have any official legal
status; all villages are part of an incorporated municipality (town or
city . . .) which is the smallest official form of government," says Wikipedia.
. . .
I am fairly deft with chopsticks; I've had lots of practice. However, one of the women serving us from a cart at Bamboo Garden kept pawing at me as I tried to make all gone from my plate. She objected to my use of my left hand holding chopsticks. It seems that Chinese generally frown on this practice as bad form, while eating with your left hand in Islam is makruh (abominable), not just haram (unlawful or forbidden).
If this stricture applied to me, I am certain that I would poke my eye out trying to maneuver chopsticks with my right hand and that would really be an abomination.
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