Monday, March 22, 2021
Saturday, March 20th, was the International Day of Happiness. https://www.hindustantimes.
This fact may strike you two different ways. 1) At least one day out of 365 is devoted to happiness, an oasis from the nutsyness and craziness of daily life. 2) Is that the best that we can do, only one day out of 365 for happiness?
Corresponding to the observance of International Happiness Day, the United Nations released the annual World Happiness Index, based on:
- Gross domestic product per capita
- Social support
- Healthy life expectancy
- Freedom to make your own life choices
- Generosity of the general population
- Perceptions of internal and external corruption levels
For the fourth year running, Finland has come out on top, followed by Iceland,
Denmark, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. Israel, mainly populated by Jews, would seem to be a hotbed of disputes and neuroses, but it ranked #11, ahead of Ireland, Germany, the U.S.A. and France, among others.
By the way, the first hits on my Google search for the International Day of Happiness came from the Indian press. Do they need or appreciate happiness more than the rest of us?
Or, are they agonizing over ranking 144th on the World Happiness Index, badly trailing Pakistan at 66th place?
. . .
Gentleman Jerry and I went out for lunch on the International Day of Happiness, happy at least that the temperature was 20 degrees warmer than the day before. Mimi Cheng's, 309 Amsterdam Avenue, the new dumpling place, still has no outdoor seating, but Sala Thai, next door at 307 Amsterdam Avenue, was available, not a bad choice in itself. It had three little tables each in a plastic igloo and a wood and plastic structure covering five tables. We sat at a two-top in the larger space and were warm enough to take off our coats.
We shared chicken satay ($10 for 4 skewers); I had Bamee Poo, vermicelli, crab meat, roast pork, bok choy and bean sprouts, with a cup of salty broth that looked suspiciously like a finger bowl ($16). Jerry had Pad Thai, chicken, rice noodles, bean sprouts, red onion, egg, bean curd, peanuts ($16). We both qualified for the Clean Plate Club.
. . .
Jerry P. (not the Gentleman) is looking for trouble, asking, after last week's blog, "aren’t you an influencer or wanna be influencer?"
"An influencer is someone who [seeks] to affect the
purchasing decisions of others because of his or her authority,
knowledge, position, or relationship with his or her audience [or] a
following in a distinct niche, with whom he or she actively engages." https://search.yahoo.com/yhs/
Unstated, but understood throughout social medialand, a grumpy grandpa cannot be an influencer.
. . .
Speaking of happiness, what do pregnant women in Germany, grocery workers in Texas, police officers in the United Kingdom and prisoners in Florida have in common? They can't get vaccinated right now. https://www.nytimes.com/
Tuesday, March 23, 2021
Happiness landed on our doorstep last night with the arrival of America's Loveliest Nephrologist for a four-day stay. It is the first time that we have seen her since Thanksgiving 2019. Smiles all around.
I am obliged, however, to refute an ugly rumor concerning her visit. The fact that she stopped at Pastrami Queen on the way in from the airport and bought several sandwiches had nothing to do with my pleasure at seeing her.
Wednesday, March 24, 2021
Exercising our fully-vaccinated freedom, Terrific Tom, Michael Ratner and I went to Yoon Haeundae Galbi, 8 West 36th Street, a notable Korean restaurant. The interior of the restaurant is very attractive, which I observed on a trip to the bathroom. The outdoor dining space is a crude rectangle, with 8 two-tops. No heaters were apparent, but the afternoon was mild and we felt no need for them.
It was all about the food.
Yoon Haeundae Galbi is a Korean BBQ restaurant, offering a variety of meat cooked tableside. Indoors, grills are built into the tables; outdoors, a portable grill is used. We ordered the Prime Lunch Package for 2 and shared peacefully by 3 ($68). It featured Fresh Short Rib, Brisket and Dry Aged Ribeye, cooked by our waiter, accompanied by a green salad and a bunch of little dishes including cold mashed potatoes, kim chi, shredded radish, dried fish in a sesame sauce and hot peppers in oil. We also had a delicious side order of "potato noodles," not japchae, the typical sweet potato glass noodle, but closer to ramen or lo mein. A very good meal, differing from the Chinese, Thai and Vietnamese that the Boyz usually enjoy.
. . .
Responding to competition? "Post Office Plan Calls for Slower Delivery and Higher Prices."
Thursday, March 25, 2021
An introductory course in American government usually begins with a consideration of democracy and representation. Several issues can be expected to produce lively discussions, including a representative's principles versus the interests of his constituency and majority rule versus minority rights.
We know that our electoral system, first past the post, as the Brits say, rewards the winner and ignores the loser regardless of the margin of victory. Combined with gerrymandering, this may result in severely distorted results, most often at the state level. For example, in 2020, in Wisconsin, "Democratic candidates received 46% of total votes cast in state Assembly
races, but ended up with only 38 of 99 seats . . . . In state Senate races, Democratic candidates secured about
47% of total votes, but only picked up 38% of the seats on the ballot
and now control only 12 of 33 seats."
The fix for this, according to us clever political scientists, is proportional representation, giving voice to minorities. Probably the best current example is Israel where elections are based on proportional representation on a national basis; there are no local constituencies. The number of seats a party gets in the Knesset is proportional to the number of its votes nationwide as long as a party meets a threshold of 3.25% of the total. The result, 13 parties are currently represented in the Knesset, with an equal number not making the cut. Likud, the party of current prime minister Bibi Netanyahu, won the most seats in the election held two days ago, 30 out of 120. Other parties on the right won about 25 seats. His opponents, in aggregate, may have more seats than his likely coalition, but they are fragmented over half a dozen parties.
This formula for continuing stalemate after four elections in two years "was already forcing Israelis to confront questions about the viability of their electoral system, the functionality of their government and whether the divisions between the country’s various polities — secular and devout, right-wing and leftist, Jewish and Arab — have made the country unmanageable." https://nyti.ms/2PsFMCE
It's interesting to speculate what would happen if we swapped electoral systems with the Israelis. I subscribe to the ideas of
the French political scientist Maurice Duverger, who identified the relationship between the number of parties in a
country and its electoral system. "[T]he simple majority,
single ballot system favours the two‐party system . . . and
proportional representation favour[s] multi‐partism." https://www.oxfordreference.
The ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) would win a few single-member districts by enormous margins, reflecting their geographical concentration. Their few parliamentarians would probably be stymied in the Knesset, however, because multi-factional parties are likely to emerge to appeal to the diverse constituencies in the many other districts throughout the country, mostly uncomfortable with the power of the ultra-Orthodox. "In the eyes of the broader [Israeli] population, haredim are often seen to be arrogant, entitled and contemptuous of state authority." https://www.jpost.com/israel-
Meanwhile, ignoring the strictures of federalism, imagine the proliferation of parties in the U.S.A. based on local preferences, prejudices and peculiarities? So, pick your poison.
. . .
A check of telephone records reveals that New York Governor Andrew Cuomo was able to order pizza delivered to the governor's mansion from Domino's on at least two occasions while other customers were put on hold. The news of this caused one legislator from Schoharie County to abandon his support for the already beleaguered governor.
. . .
The doctor flew away this afternoon after her four-day house call.
Friday, March 26, 2021
Tomorrow begins Passover, the Jewish holiday celebrating the exodus from Egypt, arguably the model for all independence movements to come. There is a seder, a family meal wrapped inside the retelling of the biblical tale, each of the first two evenings of the eight-day holiday.
Four glasses of wine are a key part of the seder. For many of us growing up, one of only two brands of wine appeared on the seder table, Manischewitz or Mogen David (star of David). Either one was a thick, sweet wine, made from Concord grapes. Kids loved it. Now, both companies offer a wide range of more sophisticated beverages, comporting with the upward social mobility of the American Jewish population and the competition of French, Californian and Israeli Kosher wines.
What I am remembering is the now-abandoned label of Mogen David wines, depicting 5 Jews gathered at a seder table or, possibly, a poker game.
If this bottle appeared on a Gentile's table, would it be cultural appropriation, by today's standards?
. . .
"Shtisel" is back, baruch HaShem.
