Monday, January 25, 2021
Since an independent audit determined that every single reader of my work has at least two college degrees, I don't hesitate to reveal to you an addition to the universal realm of Ohm's Law, the Pythagorean Theorem and Freiling's Axiom -- Grandpa Alan's Supposition. Grandpa Alan's Supposition maintains that most often there is only one winning ticket for very large U.S. lottery jackpot, in defiance of the odds.
Last week, I purchased tickets for Powerball and Mega Millions, which respectively paid out $731.1 million and $1.05 billion to one winner each. By some quirk, it was not me in either case. But, that's not important. It was Grandpa Alan's Supposition again. In fact, prior to last week, 4 out of the 5 largest jackpots went to one winner. https://apnews.com/article/
The odds of winning Powerball: 1 in 292,201,338; Mega Millions: 1 in 302,575,350. However, when Grandpa Alan's Supposition kicks in, your return is several times the odds, which is why I bought tickets last week, only prevented from winning by a fluke.
. . .
Here, further evidence of the death of the New York is dead claim is provided by a look at current apartment lease data.
https://nyti.ms/2Y7bkyF
December 2020 lease signings increased 94% over December 2019 for two main reasons -- 2019 ended weakly and 2020 rents decreased with the surge of Covid-19. Welcome home.
. . .
Even this early, we can announce that the Word of the Year is Unify; let's bring the American people together after a very divisive period in our history. For instance, a headline in the Dallas Morning News reads "Can Joe Biden unify America?" https://www.dallasnews.com/
I won't be difficult and point out that the goal of oneness is not only remote, but potentially dangerous. An undifferentiated mass is a threat to those who find themselves on the margin whether by choice or by chance.
Let us broaden our view of unity, seeing a path not a destination. Putting compromise before rigid devotion to a policy stance should appeal to many Americans. In fact, this corresponds to the view of most Republicans, as follows: We Republicans will continue to refute the results of the last presidential election so long as you Democrats do not try to reform our political or economic system. Kumbaya.
Tuesday, January 26, 2021
I want to call to your attention "The Moral Triangle: Germans, Israelis, Palestineans," an ethnographic study by Sa’ed Atshan and Katharina Galor, a Palestinian scholar and an Israeli scholar. https://www.
I haven't read the book yet, but I listened to the authors discussing it this weekend. It is centered on Berlin, the city with the largest Palestinian population in Europe, mostly refugees, and the largest Israeli population, mostly voluntary expatriates. According to the authors, the two groups are treated quite differently. The Israelis are typically welcomed and esteemed in a conscious effort by the Germans to atone for the past, while the Palestinians are treated begrudgingly and often met with Islamophobia.
Members of the two groups share some neighborhoods, but do not interact significantly, although the authors claim that they are more relaxed around each other in Berlin than almost anywhere else in the world. It's impossible to predict whether this will have any lasting political impact, but you can hope.
Wednesday, January 27, 2021
Gideon Klein died 76 years ago today. He was very young, only 25, but had established a reputation as a musician and composer in Prague before being deported to Theresienstadt concentration camp in 1941.
Theresienstadt had a dual character. It was a way station for many headed for Nazi death camps and, simultaneously, a showcase for how well Jews were treated under the Third Reich. To fortify that image, many artists and musicians were kept there and allowed some freedom of expression. Klein wrote several works there, some preserved. Here is a movement of his "String Trio." https://youtu.be/abr6nC_pnp0
Days after completing this work in October 1944, he was transferred to Auschwitz and assigned to Fürstengrube, a subcamp at a coal mine owned by IG Farben. While January 27, 1945 is the official date of the liberation of Auschwitz by the Red Army, the sprawling complex and associated subcamps were not all freed at the same time. By January 27, 1945, some had been abandoned in whole or part by the fleeing Nazis. A couple of hundred prisoners remained at Fürstengrube when a dozen or so SS men entered and killed most of the remaining prisoners; some they shot and some burned to death when the SS set their barracks on fire, Gideon Klein among them.
. . .
I got my first Covid-19 vaccination shot his morning at the Harlem Action Health Center, 158 East 115th Street. Whether you know Manhattan geography or not, it's easy to recognize that Palazzo di Gotthelf, situated in the 200 block of West 68th Street, is far removed from that location. So, Grandpa Alan, why did you schlep all the way over there to get vaccinated, especially when there are all sorts of medical facilities administering the vaccine between here and there, including the doc-in-the-box directly across the street?
Put simply, the extraordinary development of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines in record time was an accomplishment of the Constitution of the United States of America, while the distribution and administration of the vaccines to the citizens were handled under the Articles of Confederation.
In my peer group of the lame and the halt, appointments made, appointments broken, unanswered telephones, crashing websites persistently frustrated our efforts to guard our health, replacing grandchildren as the primary topic of conversation. It took me six weeks after vaccinations began to get my first shot today and only because Lily P., my lovely niece, has been refreshing her computer screen every few minutes for days on end. A blessing on her head.
In contrast to the tortuous path to get in the front door of the Harlem Action Health Center, once there, I had a thoroughly pleasant experience, friendly staff acting professionally and efficiently. A blessing on their head.
The 116th Street crosstown bus, which returned me to the West Side, ends on 106th Street at Broadway, one block from Absolute Bagels, 2788 Broadway, a formidable contender in the bagel wars. I hurried home with a handful of fresh bagels, 2 poppy, 2 everything, to celebrate my newly inoculated status.
Friday, January 29, 2021
Always putting my country first, I have just submitted a proposal to the FBI to save them time and money. I promise not to utter threats to public officials, a federal crime, as has Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican from Georgia. https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/26/politics/marjorie-taylor-greene-democrats-violence/
That will free up time and money to investigate her on charges of violating, among other statutes, 18 U.S.C. §
875 (c): "Whoever transmits in interstate or foreign commerce any communication
containing any threat to kidnap any person or any threat to injure the
person of another, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not
more than five years, or both." Just when we were getting to know you, Marjorie.
