Saturday, July 5, 2025
This is an erudite article on the origins of pizza.
This advertisement from May 9, 1903 provides evidence that the pioneer of New York pizza was Filippo Milone, forgotten by history.
. . .
Bad news, good news. Shakespeare & Company, a small local chain of bookstores, named after the iconic enterprise on Paris’s Left Bank, closed its last location, 2020 Broadway, barely one block from Palazzo di Gotthelf. It was a neat operation with a too comfortable cafe. People never left. On the other hand, it has quickly been replaced by a branch of Strand Bookstore, the Everest of bookstores.
. . .
I don’t support Zohran Mamdani, but how he identified himself on a college application is the worst reason to oppose his candidacy for New York mayor. I would not want some assertions that I made as a 17-year old to emerge now. “Of course, I’ll respect you in the morning.”
By the way, he is the son of a Columbia University professor and a graduate of the Bronx High School of Science (one of the best in the country), yet he couldn’t get into Columbia in spite of possibly exaggerating his minority status. Unaffirmative action?
I think that Mamdani’s inexperience impresses/depresses me more than his foreign policy views. However, I am appalled by his refusal to distance himself from the evil slogan “Globalize the Intifada”. It’s not merely a call to struggle for justice. It has been wrapped around such incidents as:
- On March 11, 2004, 193 people are killed and nearly 2,000 are injured when 10 bombs explode on four trains in three Madrid-area train stations during a busy morning rush hour.
- A series of coordinated suicide bombings in London that targeted public transport during the morning rush hour, on July 7, 2005, resulting in 52 deaths and over 770 injuries.
- Attacks by ten gunmen from November 26 to 29, 2008, across multiple locations in Mumbai, including hotels, a train station, and a Jewish center, resulting in at least 174 deaths and over 300 injuries.
- Attacks in Paris on November 13, 2015 by gunmen and suicide bombers against a concert hall, a major stadium, restaurants and bars, almost simultaneously, leaving 130 people dead and hundreds wounded.
Chanting it on the green lawns of college campuses does not sanitize it.
Sunday, July 6, 2025
“As Floods Hit, Key Roles Were Vacant at Weather Service Offices in Texas.” New York Times headline. But look how much money we saved.
. . .
While New York City home prices appreciated 49% in the period 2014-2024, the median sale prices of 24 neighborhoods recorded gains as high as 288%.
Leading the pack was Two Bridges, a new name for a carved out section of the Lower East Side. One Manhattan Square, an 800-foot luxury condominium tower, drove this dramatic increase. It sits across from the East River, at the bottom end of Pike Slip, an extension of First Avenue. A Pathmark supermarket perched there until Hurricane Sandy in 2012 flooded the entire premises, destroying its usefulness.
When I was single, I lived on East 46th Street between First and Second Avenues, an area weak on grocery stores. Periodically, I would take the M15 bus downtown to the Pathmark carrying two empty shopping bags. When they were full, I checked out and took the bus back uptown. On weekends, I would often go to Zabar’s on my bicycle, filling only one medium-sized bag.
. . .
I was faced with a bit of a dilemma at dinner tonight. We were joined by the lovely couple David and Julie, who, among other outstanding character traits, read this blog thoroughly. David, one of about a dozen Davids of my acquaintanceship, lamented the lack of a distinguishing nickname, such as Gentleman Jerry or Stony Brook Steve. I therefore anoint the accordion-playing, Hebrew-chanting, technology master David as Delightful David.
Dinner at Dagon, 2454 Broadway, was easily labeled a success. We did our usual at Dagon, concentrate on mezze and bread. We shared everything: Japanese eggplant confit, roasted garlic, tomato jam, buttermilk, shabazi (blend of cilantro leaves, green chili, garlic, and lemon) breadcrumbs; spicy feta; tzatziki; marinated beets; tomato & pepper matbucha (North African condiment) dip; green tahina; flatbread ($51 for the platter). Plus Kubaneh, Yemeni pull-apart bread with za'atar and feta ($16); Israeli salad, cucumber, tomato, red onion, parsley, mint, tahini, green schug (spicy herb garlic pepper sauce) ($18) and chicken liver mousse with date syrup ($12). Special mention of a delicious dessert: Silan -- shredded halva, caramel rice crisps, pistachio, almonds, tahini mousse, vanilla sponge, date syrup, vanilla ice cream ($14).
Tuesday, July 8, 2025
Even while the increasingly futile hunt for victims of the Texas floods continues, interest has shifted to identifying the few existing Democratic politicians in Texas who might be blamed for the tragedy.
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You may or may not be a reader of the New York Times. In either case, you can measure your own taste in movies against the general readership.
Wednesday, July 9, 2025
Somebody somewhere is apparently using artificial intelligence to create a Marco Rubio clone.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/
https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/
This construct has communicated with public officials domestic and foreign. I don't understand why the person behind this caper took the trouble to duplicate Marco Rubio when the original is so inconsequential as to be mistaken for wallpaper at public gatherings.
ALERT
Normally, I would ramble on through the rest of the week, but we flew to California Thursday morning and I decided to break here and continue later.
The Marco Rubio clone was created by artificial intelligence. That's more than the original has.
ReplyDeleteYour characterization of Rubio is great. He has turned out to be even more disappointing than I had expected.
ReplyDelete