Monday, June 28, 2021
Happy Birthday, Melvin Kaminsky. You only have 1,905 years to go.
Happy Birthday, Melvin Kaminsky. You only have 1,905 years to go.
. . .
I am reluctant to take on the press after the battering it experienced during the last presidential administration. However, in response to my higher calling, I have to find fault where fault exists. In this instance, it is the New York Times reporting on "The Best Cities for Cyclists" https://www.nytimes.com/2021/
There are many good reasons for urban bicycling, personal and ecological, and, if one is approaching unfamiliar territory, guidance is desirable. The factors in determining the ratings involved "weather; access to bike routes, bike shops and bike share programs;
safety; and community support from bike organizations and groups." That all sounds perfectly reasonable until you see that San Francisco came out on top.
Ironically, we are heading there and the Bay area tomorrow and expect to walk about enjoying the sights as we have many times before. But, never, in many prior visits, did I consider attacking San Francisco's steep ups and downs on a bicycle, even when my weary chassis was less weary and there was less of my chassis. Part of its charm are the views from its hilltops and the challenge of ascending and descending the streets in a car with a manual transmission
. . .
Speaking of transportation, Adam Gopnik, writing in The New Yorker about railroads, makes this intriguing observation, "it took New York longer to build three stops for the Second Avenue
subway than it did for the nineteenth-century railroad barons to get
from Chicago to Los Angeles." He does not suggest that this feat was purely "about the application of will and energy" in the most salutary fashion. Rather, much of the story is about the "brutal exploitation of (often) Chinese labor to build on (often)
Native land." Today, forging ahead is considerably more complicated.
. . .
Our experience with Covid-19 has properly increased our appreciation of the scientists among us. If you need further cause to take a researcher to dinner, consider: "High Intake Of Chocolate In Morning Helps Reduce Blood Sugar And Weight: Study"
I await the follow-up study that extends the beneficial time frame to 24/7.
Tuesday, June 29, 2021
We headed to the Left Coast to spend a week with America's Loveliest Nephrologist and the Oakland Heartthrob. As you may know, there has been a dramatic increase in rental car charges resulting from a shortage of vehicles. Last year, the major agencies dumped hundreds of thousands of cars when no one was traveling. Now, they cannot replenish their inventory fast enough to keep up with the revived demand. So, we tried something different -- Turo.com, a "peer-to-peer carsharing company," effectively an Airbnb for cars. By the way, if you enter Toro.com, you will have a choice of lawnmowers, not automobiles.
For the same price as a compact/economy sedan, we rented a black 2016 Lexus 300H Hybrid from its owner, which is exactly the car that we own in the Holy Land, only ours is silver. With California gasoline prices over $4 a gallon, the familiar economy of the Lexus compares favorably with much smaller conventionally-powered automobiles.
Wednesday, June 30, 2021
It was early this morning on the Left Coast when, thanks to our home delivery subscription to the New York Times, I was able to read the newspaper on line. Unfortunately, the lead story was the massive snafu in counting the votes in the Democratic mayoral primary election, the first use locally of the ranked-choice ballot system.
As much of a tizzy as this will cause in the Holy Land, particularly agitating Black and brown voters and leftists generally, who suspected ill treatment from the start, it may further embed electoral conspiracy theories of all stripes in American consciousness. Attempts to restore civility and honesty to our politics, already a long shot, may be compromised interminably at such a great cost.
I have always been reluctant to accept conspiracy theories, because I have seen Life deal out so many strange hands. Additionally, having spent my first dozen years in business programming or managing the programming of commercial computers, I remain surprised that anything works right in early iterations.
. . .
I have to give credit where credit is due. Oakland has a current estimated population of 440,000, about one-quarter Manhattan's. When I asked Google for breakfast joints near me, it came up with 10 or so attractive alternatives. Not just what we would call coffee shops or luncheonettes, but real breakfast joints or at least a café with eggs and pancakes and even grits. From where I am actually sitting, a car is needed to get to any of them, unless you are one of those unsensible types who likes to run up and down steep hills. Of course, if I had relatives who lived in the broad, flat area nearer the bay, I would only be walking. In any case, that compares with Breakfast Near Me when Me is at Palazzo di Gotthelf, yielding McDonald's, Starbucks and a few tired luncheonettes, I am sorry to say.
Mother and daughter ventured forth earlier, so I chose Kitchen Story, 5422 College Avenue. Although I was a little bit worried about its subtitle -- California Cuisine -- my concerns were quickly dispelled. It had a dozen outdoor tables, 2 tops and 4 tops, half in a wood and plexiglass shelter Three big vertical flamethrowers were blazing away to dispel the late morning chill, while my smartyphone told me that the Holy Land was registering 95°.
Most of the staff are Thai, providing very attentive service; the owner is Korean and kimchi makes several appearances on the menu. I ordered the "Bay Bottom Soufflegg," an egg
soufflé, served in a 4" skillet, with crab meat, prawns and asparagus, at $24 the most expensive item on the menu. It came with a slice of multigrain bread (it's California, you know) and delicious pan-fried Yukon potatoes with Creole spices. It was so good, I might have to go back for the fried chicken and waffles ($18) or the Wagyu beef patty, spinach, mushroom, white cheddar, fried onion, fried egg, and ginger rice plate ($17).
. . .
And now for something completely different. Here is a prodigious reconstruction of the events at the U.S.Capitol on January 6, 2021. Merely a group of visiting tourists? https://nyti.ms/3jskDp1
Thursday, July 1, 2021
Poor Donald Trump. Even as his business organization and a key associate are indicted for criminal activities, a group of 147 historians and presidential observers polled by C-SPAN deny him the distinction of being ranked as the worst president ever. https://www.c-span.org/
In private, the former president is allegedly claiming that the survey was conducted among "rude, nasty, and totally biased" folk, who are "relentlessly seeking to destroy a reputation of a President who has done a great job for this Country, including tax and regulation cuts" by slotting all but Franklin Pierce, Andrew Johnson and James Buchanan above him.
. . .
The Oakland Heartthrob, an impeccable host, took me to see the Oakland Athletics formerly the Kansas City Athletics (1955-1967) formerly the Philadelphia Athletics (1901-1954) play the Texas Rangers, who, in a failure of imagination, stole the name from a great hockey team. Fortunately, I packed for the event.
. . .
Humble pie à la mode -- A Republican running for the open U.S. Senate seat in Ohio, a Yale Law School graduate, says that "the elites in the ruling class in this country are robbing us blind." His campaign for the little people will be financed by "$10 million pledged toward his campaign by [a] billionaire venture capitalist." https://nyti.ms/3hmnCwu
Friday, July 2, 2021
In Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee, decided yesterday, the United States Supreme Court took another large step in limiting freedom. By accepting legislation designed to weaken likely Democratic voters in Arizona, the conservative majority sent a signal of what's to come as state legislatures pile on restrictions to the electoral process. At least 389 bills restricting voting have been introduced in 48 states this legislative year. https://www.brennancenter.org/
At first glance, the idea that courts should stay far away from elections and the legislative process at any level of government seems sound. It's the political equivalent of "boys will be boys." However, we have come to acknowledge that that approach to interpersonal relations too often countenances cruelty or worse.
Now, court-sanctioned Gerrymandered legislatures, where candidates pick their voters rather than vice versa, may proceed to customize the pool of eligible voters. As Republicans face what they fear are unfavorable demographic trends, the Supreme Court has apparently given them the green light to mold the electorate to their liking.
While one of the most dramatic episodes of revolutionary violence in our history came from the right on January 6th, Republican politicians seem to be pushing more and more people to society's margins with less and less opportunity to effect change. The results cannot be healthy and may well prove dangerous.
. . .
Enough already. We are off to Sonoma County for wining and dining, but I'll save my comments for the next round.
As for the naming of Rangers teams:
ReplyDelete(From the Web)
Founded in New York by Tex Rickard in 1926 as an expansion franchise, the team was given its name by the New York press, which nicknamed it “Tex's Rangers” (a play on the phrase “Texas Rangers”).