Sunday, February 26, 2023
Not everyone considers living single a disadvantage, being preoccupied with making your own way through a consistently challenging world without being concerned with trying to keep the Other Person happy, safe, warm, content, comfortable, amused. What living single isn't is cheap, certainly not in the Holy Land. A new survey puts New York far and away at the top of the list of Least Affordable Cities for Singles, based on the rent for a studio apartment. https://www.renthop.com/
It's followed by Miami and New Orleans. At the other end of the scale are Albuquerque, Wichita and Minneapolis. None of the latter are less than 1,114 miles from Ron DeSantis, an additional savings.
Monday, February 27, 2023
“I
read it on the Internet” is often the excuse for the perpetuation of
ignorance by many people. A completely different demographic will
claim “I read it in the New York Times,” as its rationale for uncritical
thinking. A recent gush of misinformation spouted from Bret Stephens,
the Times columnist still seeking a return to the compassionate
conservatism that went down in flames in 2004. Stephens looked at a study that encompassed 78 random controlled trials, with 610,872 participants. https://www.cochranelibrary.
That made the headline of Stephen's article particularly potent and attention-getting. “The Mask Mandates Did Nothing.” So, those Republicans were right all along, right?
Not really. The study stated clearly that the "high risk of bias in the trials, variation in outcome measurement, and
relatively low adherence with the interventions during the studies
hampers drawing firm conclusions." Still, 78 trials seem like a lot, but note that many "were conducted during the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic, and others in epidemic influenza seasons up to 2016." In fact, only "[s]ix of the new trials were conducted during the COVID‐19 pandemic." And, these consisted of "two
from Mexico, and one each from Denmark, Bangladesh, England, and Norway."
So, I am not hampered from drawing a firm conclusion that Bret Stephens is bad for your health.
Tuesday, February 28, 2023
Here's another interesting headline: "TD Bank Agrees to Pay $1.2 Billion to Settle Ponzi Scheme Case." Don't worry, though, "TD expressly denies any liability or wrongdoing with respect to the multi-year Ponzi scheme."
How nice of TD Bank to find $1.2 billion and randomly give it to a bunch of worthy souls hanging around the courthouse. Only in America.
. . .
"Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and one fellow Republican were the only House lawmakers on Monday to vote against a resolution that mourned the almost 50,000 people killed in this month’s earthquakes in Turkey and Syria." https://news.yahoo.com/
. . .
Speaking of mental illness, the National Institute of Mental Health asserts that nearly one in five U.S. adults live with a mental illness (52.9 million in 2020). https://www.nimh.nih.gov/
Wednesday, March 1, 2023
I have to go back to 1985 to recollect a better meal than lunch today at Le Bernardin, 155 West 51st Street, a birthday treat by my young bride. Le Bernardin has three Michelin stars and has earned four stars from the New York Times every time that it has been reviewed since its opening in 1986. I heartily agree, with only modest embarrassment at temporarily abandoning the revolution for two hours of hedonism.
The room is large, decorated attractively, but soberly. The tables, holding two to eight people, are generously proportioned and well spaced. Service is impeccable, captains, sommeliers, waiters, bus drivers (you can’t say busboys anymore), only seconds away without hovering.
We had the three course prix fixe lunch for $120; an eight course tasting menu is $298, paired with wine for $468. The whole table must order the tasting menu. After an amuse bouche, literally "mouth amuser" a/k/a vorspeiss, of a smoked salmon and poached salmon pâté, the first course of three is chosen from 18 alternatives, two salads and 16 fish/seafood. I had poached lobster, silver dollar-sized rounds in Verjus Sabayon, a heavenly sauce of grape juice and eggs. The second course has 12 choices, 9 fish, steak, Guinea hen and pasta. In spite of the obvious focus on the ocean, I selected the Guinea hen, quarter-inch thick discs stuffed with truffles and foie gras. Beyond delicious.
My dessert was sticky toffee pudding with coffee ice cream and a miniature Black Forest cake for my birthday. I can’t wait until next year.
Regarding 1985 — On my first trip to France, I went to
Les Frères Troisgros, possibly the best restaurant in the country at the time, where I had a spectacular eight-course dinner for 350 francs, $45.50 at 13₵ a franc.
Friday, March 3, 2023
Individually, the caption and the photograph are each bizarre, together they make you fear for Western civilization.
A bejeweled face mask, on rare occasions, can tie a whole outfit together.
how nice of TD bank's executives, some of whom might have had something to do with said Ponzi scheme for which they deny wrongdoing and liability, to find some spare change in the pockets of their shareholders to pay off the victims, with perhaps some overlap in those populations, if the victims were left with any funds. another good example of this passing on/getting away with responsibility for ones bad acts, comes when municipalities pay the penalties of the wrongdoing of municipal employees sworn to serve and protect those who ultimately pay them, .e.g., the small but persistent police officers who wreak violence out of all proportion on victims who are entirely innocent or who pose no genuine threat to anyone!
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