Saturday, August 23, 2025
When a supporter of New York City Mayor Eric Adams was caught giving cash to a local reporter in a potato chip bag, it drew this comment: “If New York’s City Hall is indeed selling favors, as a growing pile of corruption and bribery indictments say, the prices have fallen to bargain-basement, clearance levels.”
. . .
Speaking of potato chips, I recently offered a national map of potato chip brand preferences. Now, I go further into the land of critical snacking. Here is a picture of the ice cream landscape across the country. I am pleased that Tillamook, my best buy favorite, does so well and surprised that Ben & Jerry’s, that left-wing Jewish brand, is so popular.
If your taste is less rarefied and your geographic focus is narrower, here is a map of Mister Softee locations.
Sunday, August 24, 2025
Always looking for adventure, the Upper West Side’s Power Couple drove to New Jersey to have lunch with Butch and Toby. By the way, I know three Tobys at present; two of them are grandmothers and one is a bachelor. However, I lost track of Toby Eisenberg in junior high school. Butch recommended Axia Taverna, 18 Piermont Road, Tenafly, an excellent choice as it happens. It is quite attractive. Its bar is in the front window, bottles against the glass. High ceilings and white walls give a very bright and open feeling. The place was quiet; we were late for lunch and early for dinner. We received particularly attentive service under the circumstances.
We started with a mezze platter, quinoa falafel (different and delicious), sumac yogurt, sundried tomato feta dip, black truffle kefalo graviera cheese (a firm, hard Greek cheese made from sheep's and goat's milk), tzatziki, mixed olives with fresh pita ($45). Butch had Solomos Kalamata, pan-roasted salmon, olive crust, manouri (feta whey) & feta, with spinach rice ($36). The women shared Briam, layered vegetables, Israeli couscous, in a tomato rag[o]ut ($28).
I had something unique — Pastichio Rhodos, Greek pasta, meat sauce, béchamel, baked in a phyllo shell ($28), sort of a spaghetti potpie. We saved room for a special dessert, frozen yogurt with sour cherry sauce, two scoops in a crisp phyllo cup ($9).
Monday, August 25, 2025
I have to share this headline from Andy Borowitz: "Ghislaine Maxwell Becomes Only Person in America Who Has Not Seen Trump Act Inappropriately"
. . .
An article today provided some interesting data about college students, accurately reflecting its headline "The Typical College Student Is Not What You Think."
43 percent of undergraduates attend community college
About 75 percent of community college students are enrolled part time
20 percent of all undergraduate students are parents
1.4 million undergraduate students with children are single mothers
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. . .
I received this text message this morning.
Amazon Safety Recall:
We are contacting you because the product you purchased is being recalled. This recall is due to quality and safety issues. We urge you to stop using the product immediately and contact us to arrange a full refund. You can view your order details at the following link: []
You'll notice that the sense of urgency is balanced by the lack of specificity about the product and the danger. I've decided to take the risk.
Tuesday, August 26, 2025
Gentleman Jerry and I had lunch at Simply Noodles, 267 Amsterdam Avenue. This modest place was busy, all 16 seats were occupied most of the time we were there. The name is slightly deceptive. Besides a variety of noodle dishes, it also serves dumplings and other small plates. We shared a thin and crispy scallion pancake ($8). I then had Spicy Scallion Oil Noodles, angel hair rice noodles, cucumber slivers, half a tea-stained egg and four slices of white meat chicken ($16). It was spicy, but friendly spicy, just right.
Wednesday, August 27, 2025
Thursday, August 28, 2025
There was another terrible shooting this morning at a church in Minneapolis. At least two children are dead and many more wounded. The gunman killed himself as is often the case in these mindless episodes. Here’s my suggestion to prospective killers. Shoot yourself first. Get it over with. Spare the innocent.
. . .
The Dunning-Kruger effect is when a person does not have skills or ability in a specific area but sees themselves as fully equipped to give opinions or carry out tasks in that field, even though objective measures or people around them may disagree. While this seems to be an age-old malady, it was first named for two psychologists in 1999. I think that the time has come to rename it — The Donald Trump Effect.
Make Physics Great Again
Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy, announced plans for renovating New York’s Pennsylvania Station yesterday. He said that the project will “move at the speed of Trump.”
. . .
I experienced real joy this morning, not just pleasure, not just merriment. I was on the way to see my oral surgeon to find out what's wrong now. WBGO 88.3 FM, the jazz station, was on and they played "The Golden Striker," the first track on the soundtrack album for "No Sun In Venice," a 1957 film, "Sait-on Jamais" in the original French.
The film's music is by pianist John Lewis, performed by the Modern Jazz Quartet. As a teenager devoted to jazz while others listened to rock'n'roll, I purchased the album as soon as I heard "The Golden Striker" on Symphony Sid's show on WEVD 1330 AM. It lifted my spirits then and it still does. I think that it was named for the figures atop the Torre dell'Orologio in the Piazza San Marco in Venice who, though not golden, ring out the hour.
By the way, WEVD was founded by the Socialist Party in 1927 and named for Eugene V. Debs, its five-time presidential candidate, recent deceased. For many years it featured Yiddish language broadcasts and other ethnic programming. Its call letters disappeared in 2003 when its remnant was sold to ESPN.
Just hearing Symphony Sid's theme song was also uplifting. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ui0BKx283BE [skip ad]
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