Sure Thing

Monday, December 23, 2019

I am a careful reader of what I will always consider the society pages of the newspaper.  In spite of all the attempts by the New York Times to democratize it, renaming it Styles, including all manner of fibberty dross and offering coverage of diverse marital pairings, the society pages interest me because they are where I'm not.

Yesterday, there were back to back items that reminded me what's wrong with this country, as if I needed reminding.  Groom #1, a graduate of Princeton University, "is an M.B.A. candidate at Stanford and was previously a management consultant in the Summit, N.J., office of the Boston Consulting Group, a management consulting company based in Boston."  Bride #2, Harvard graduate, "is pursuing an M.B.A. at Stanford.  Until May, she worked as a venture capital investor at Bain Capital Ventures."

How about curing cancer?
. . .

Except if you are from around here, until recently you knew little about Michael Bloomberg, announced candidate for president.  That has changed in the last few weeks as tens of millions of dollars of his advertisements have been broadcast to television viewers all over the country.  Unlike other businessmen running for or occupying the presidency, Bloomberg places his political experience above his business experience, as formidable as it was.  Here is a good report of his entry into local politics. 
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/22/us/politics/Michael-Bloomberg-nyc-mayor-election.html

I had some minor, but jolting, exposure to Bloomberg's first campaign for mayor of New York in 2001.  I knew his opponent personally and did some grunt work on the campaign.  For election day, I volunteered to be a poll watcher and was assigned to a location in East Harlem.  I took an uptown bus early that morning; polls in New York City open at 6:00 A.M.  I got off the bus around East 106th Street and First Avenue, near to the public school holding the voting booths.

Everywhere I looked, as soon as I got off the bus, I saw Bloomberg posters attached to any upright that could hold them, traffic lights, street lights, traffic signs, awning stanchions.  And, this was a neighborhood that, at the time, sat near or at the bottom of the civic totem pole, economically, educationally, voting turnout.  While the area had a colorful political past, represented in Congress by Fiorello LaGuardia (before serving as mayor) and Vito Marcantonio, probably the most left wing Congressman of the 20th century, both of whom fluctuated among political parties, it remained solidly Democratic from mid-century on.  Yet, Bloomberg posters were omnipresent, having appeared overnight. 

I called campaign headquarters, imagining that I uncovered an isolated phenomenon, to learn that this was a commonplace occurrence.  In retrospect, this was no surprise as a subsequent headline testified.  "At $92.60 a Vote, Bloomberg Shatters an Election Record."  https://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/04/nyregion/at-92.60-a-vote-bloomberg-shatters-an-election-record.html

Forbes estimates Bloomberg's current net worth at $56,000,000,000.  https://www.forbes.com/profile/michael-bloomberg/?list=billionaires#4eb7b97f1417  

Voter turnout in November 2020 should reach 130,000,000 and, to play it safe with our undemocratic voting system, assume Bloomberg would need 70,000,000 votes to safely win the Electoral College.  2001's $92.60 is now worth approximately $134.27, which means that Bloomberg would have $46,601,100,000 left over to redecorate the White House.

. . .

The New York Times has an on-line quiz, asking for identification of famous faces, that most of us will do well on, I am certain.  https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/12/23/upshot/recognizability-quiz.html

What's most interesting is how (un)well our fellow Americans do.  Vladimir Putin better recognized than Joe Biden by the general public?  Rihanna (who?) more familiar than Elizabeth Warren?

Tuesday, December 24, 2019

Speaking of endangered species, there is an extremely disturbing report that "Chinese Restaurants Are Closing."  https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/24/upshot/chinese-restaurants-closing-upward-mobility-second-generation.html

As owners age, their children "who have college degrees and good-paying jobs, don’t intend to take over."  According to one survey, "the share of Chinese restaurants in the top 20 metropolitan areas has been consistently falling.  Five years ago, an average of 7.3 percent of all restaurants in these areas were Chinese, compared with 6.5 percent today." 

It's obviously a national problem, calling for federal intervention.  Otherwise we are heading for a culinary meltdown on the scale of Three Mile Island, if not Chernobyl. 
. . .

I read the article above after lunch, so don't fault me for choosing pizza today.  In fact, my neighborhood is surprisingly weak in Chinese food.  When asked for a local recommendation the other day, the closest I came was La Salle Dumpling Room, 35 West End Avenue, one half mile away.  My other choices were Han Dynasty, 215 West 85th Street and Tri Dim West, 467 Columbus Avenue (82/83).  Honorable mention for Sala Thai, 307 Amsterdam Avenue (74/75). 

While pizza in the Holy Land doesn't seem to be waning, it apparently is going in two different directions.  There has been a proliferation of $1 slice joints; Huff Post claims that there are "61 within the five boroughs today."  An I-Phone app helps you find them.  https://apps.apple.com/us/app/dollar-slice-nyc/id1080161348

On the other hand, artisan pizza, with artisan prices, are increasingly present.  https://thefoodcrowd.com/artisan-pizza/  Unfortunately, no app guides you to artisan pizza and Yelp's supposed list of Top 10 Best Artisan Pizzas in New York is an endless collection of every joint with a name ending in a vowel.  

I went to the nearby My Pie Pizzeria Romana, 166 West 72nd Street, which advertises using flour and Buffalo mozzarella imported from Italy to produce "Roman-style pizza by the slice with classic & creative toppings in a compact, no-frills setting."  Compact is generous; a bench runs along two short walls faced by six tiny tables, 18" by 10".  Sitting alongside someone is effectively a renewal of vows.  No one lingers.  The food satisfies while there, though.

My Pie offers 24 different varieties of rectangular 3" by 6" pizza slices, topped by mozzarella, pardon the expression vegan cheese, meatballs, mushrooms, onions, potatoes, truffles, prosciutto, spinach, chicken, eggplant, at prices from $3.95 to $5.95.  They are reheated when ordered, but only modestly suffer from such normally cruel treatment.  I enjoyed a meatball slice ($5.95), the bottom crust slightly brittle from the reheating.  A strength of My Pie is its soda collection, not only Diet Coke, the universal solvent, but San Pellegrino orange, blood orange and lemon, Orangina orange and lemon, and Antica Ricetta Siciliana.  "Made from the peel of the citron, to a traditional recipe using natural ingredients, Antica Ricetta Siciliana Cedrata encapsulates the flavors of bygone days and comes in an elegant glass bottle that highlights its refined bouquet and nice retro flavor."
. . .

Quote of the day: "I know windmills very much, I have studied it better than anybody."

Wednesday, December 25, 2019

My young bride has had a stiff cold for several days.  This morning, in solidarity with her, I shared it.  She reminded me that, in spite of the holiday, we are well stocked with cough medicine, antihistamines, ibuprofen,  nose spray and the like.  "More important," I interjected, reminding her that I shopped yesterday, "we have onion rolls, whitefish salad and chocolate-covered pretzels."

Friday, December 27, 2019

The World Series was over two month ago and most of us barely remember or care who won.  However, I just learned that it was was amazingly historic.  Major league baseball, as is the case with the National Hockey League and the National Basketball Association, uses seven-game, postseason tournaments to choose its champion.  Only the National Football League uses a set of win-or-go-home single games, ending in the Super Bowl.  There have been 1,420 best-of-seven postseason series in all three sports and, for the first time ever, the visiting team won all the games, ultimately a victory of the Washington Nationals.  https://www.theringer.com/mlb-playoffs/2019/10/31/20942186/nationals-astros-world-series-home-field-advantage-history

That's a 0.007042% chance of happening.  At mid-season, the odds for the Nationals even winning the World Series were 50-1, or 0.02%.  https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2844841-2019-world-series-odds-for-every-mlb-team-at-the-all-star-break#slide3

So, keep looking for love.  There's always a chance you'll find it.