Saturday, August 8, 2026

Looking Ahead

Saturday, August 1, 2026
Speaking of the New York Times, as subscribers we get home delivery and unlimited online access. I go back and forth between paper and pixels. Lately, however, I've become annoyed by a timing problem. I will read an article online that doesn't appear in print for many days. While my buddies are normally up to date on the daily paper, they may not have same online reading habit as I do. I am disappointed when my usually loquacious companions only produce a blank stare in response to my inquiry: "What did you think of Donald Trump, Jr.'s critique of The Catcher in the Rye?" 
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I think that I belong on this chart.


Sunday, August 2, 2026
Happy Birthday Burt.
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Jacob’s Pickles, 680 Columbus Avenue, takes up half the block between 84th and 85th Streets and almost every inch of it, indoors and out, was taken by the brunch crowd today. I moved right to the bar to avoid the crowd still waiting to get in.

Last week, I had probably the biggest fried chicken sandwich ever at Bob White Counter, 34 Avenue C. Jacob’s came awfully close, piled high with shredded lettuce and pickle chips ($22). It may have also been the worst fried chicken sandwich that I’ve ever had. The chicken was room temperature and had the texture and taste of an item that had been forgotten in the back of the kitchen. The French fries were only a slight improvement. I did not finish my meal. I repeat, I did not finish my meal.

The final indignity was the $4 Diet Coke, one of those tiny bottles that might have come from a child’s play kitchen.
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I salvaged this trip out of the house by going to Trader Joe’s, 670 Columbus Avenue, and then Zabar’s, 2245 Broadway, to shop for things to delight my young bride upon her return home tomorrow.
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Wirecutter is the New York Times’s embedded version of Consumer Reports. When I read its recommendation for T-shirts, I was convinced. 
The last two of the 14 that I ordered in various colors came today. They have more colors, but I exercised self-control.

Monday, August 3, 2026
“Belgian Jewish Organization Sues Local Railway Operator For Holocaust Deportations"   https://share.google/gCZLMLiI7mVGtZUq4

Reading this article took me back 25 years. I had no job when I graduated law school, so I volunteered to do research for a group of real lawyers who were suing SNCF, the French national railroad, for its role in the Holocaust. SNCF rented boxcars to the Nazis to carry Jews and others to Auschwitz and other death camps. And when the war ended, SNCF billed the de Gaulle government for unpaid Nazi charges.

We lost the case, because the relevant U.S. statute did not extend to these circumstances. My research showed that the statute was drafted incorrectly, misunderstanding the historical precedents. However, that’s not an argument that wins in court. 

Justice was eventually served years later. SNCF was trying to sell technology to U.S. railroads. Okay, just pay remaining survivors and the descendants of victims and you have a deal.  https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-30351196
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“Using travel data, Tel Aviv University researchers estimate that between 45,000 and 50,000 Israelis left the country in each of the past three years, amid war and increased political strife.”

https://share.google/TzAbXOzfq7uniG7TE

This movement is a crucial brain drain and ultimately a threat to Israel’s security, because these emigrants are among its most highly educated citizens.

As a liberal Zionist, I fervently hope that the Israeli government ceases its foreign adventures and concentrates on rebuilding the trust and support of its population. Israel’s future lies in Tel Aviv not Tehran.

Tuesday, August 4, 2026
I mentioned Wirecutter above. Today, I received another message from them that I swear could have been written by George Costanza. “Change Your Toilet Seat, Change Your Life.”
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Profiles in Porridge - "The [committee] vote paves the way for Todd Blanche's confirmation as attorney general."

Wednesday, August 5, 2026
“Despite only being 1% of the Canadian population, Jewish Canadians made up 68% of reported religiously motivated hate crimes and 18.8% of overall reported hate crimes in 2024—the largest in either category.”
Anti-Israel                    Anti-Zionist                Anti-Jewish
Anti-Jewish                  Anti-Israel                  Anti-Zionist
Anti-Zionist                 Anti-Jewish                Anti-Israel

There are some people who can distinguish these terms, but it's too much trouble for many.

Thursday, August 6, 2026
Madam and I stayed indoors all day to avoid the ugly hot and humid weather outside. That gave us the incentive to go out for dinner. We headed to Canto, 2014 Broadway, with its high ceiling arches and large, hanging faux floral arrangements. It was crowded and noisy. Most of the two dozen tables were occupied inside and some brave souls were eating outside. 

Cantu does a good job with a conventional Italian menu. My young bride was very satisfied with her salade niçoise (French, I know), "Grilled Tuna Loin, Lettuce, String Beans, Olives, Tomatoes, Potatoes, Onion, Anchovies, and Hard-Boiled Eggs in a Lemon Dressing" ($22). I had Bucatini alla Carbonara, pancetta, egg, and a parmesan sauce over thick spaghetti  ($27). 

We were happy with our dessert choice, buying a 1.5 quart tub of Tillamook’s Salty Caramel Pretzel ice cream at the Morton Williams supermarket conveniently located in the middle of the short distance between the restaurant and Palazzo di Gotthelf ($8.99).

Friday, August 7, 2026
You don’t get out of a visit to Dr. Englebert in a hurry. Before he sticks a needle in your eyeball, his specialty, you get drops in your eye six times at roughly 15-minute intervals. By the time that he appears, he might as well be wielding a chainsaw. Just get it over with!
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Groucho Marx's trick question was "What's a paradox?" For me it was my Double Doctor Day. Dr. Lipsky, a psychiatrist, is monitoring my pharmaceutical input. Actually, I reported an elevated mood, because Dr. Englebert cleared me for cataract surgery by Dr. DeLuca. Imagine that. Happy to have surgery, that's how low I've sunk.

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Saturday, August 1, 2026

All The News That Fits, We Print

Saturday, July 25, 2026
Now that the World Cup is firmly in the rear-view mirror, I want to look at football, as it is known in the rest of world. It is also affectionately called the beautiful game, a phrase popularized by Pelé, the immortal Brazilian player. However, you won’t find me calling it the beautiful game. 

I watched many more hours of soccer during this World Cup than I ever had before. It ain’t beautiful. The championship game, Spain vs. Argentina, lasted over 120 minutes, ending 1-0. Guys were falling down all over the place. Cheap shots, dirty shots, grabbing, tripping, flopping. And dramatically confronting the referee whenever a foul was finally called. Only rarely was there a smooth flow of action, even rarer was a score. When the match ended and the winning team was being honored, the losing team turned its back. Not beautiful.
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Tonight, I went to the Awards Banquet at the 111th American Ethical Union Assembly, the federation of the 20 Ethical Culture Societies. While I make no claim to be either ethical or cultured, I had good reason to be there. Dr. Arthur Dobrin was deservedly receiving the Felix Adler Lifetime Achievement Award, named for the founder of the movement. Speaking of lifetimes, Arthur and I have known each as long as we can remember. We lived across the street from each other in Brooklyn and then our families moved across the street from each other in Queens over 70 years ago. 

The meal was catered by Carmine's, the local restaurant chain noted for large portions of Southern Italian food. Indeed, there was an abundance of food, pedestrian food, unlikely to attract future customers. However, the evening was not about food and I was very pleased to have attended.

Sunday, July 26, 2026
It is probably unwise to put the blame on Michael Corleone. This morning around 7:30 or so I thought, I heard pounding on my front door. It was Stony Brook Steve checking up on me after his many telephone calls beginning at 9 AM went unanswered. It was, in fact, 10:20 and I had been out like a light. 

After the dinner last night, I returned to my spouseless abode (Madam returns from Panama next week) and was able to watch whatever I felt like on television. Around 1 AM, I found them playing Godfather II, an all-time great. With commercials, it was running to about 4 AM. That and stupidly turning off my phone thwarted Steve’s good neighbor gesture.  
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Scanning the death notices in the New York Times last week, I saw a very distinctive last name, that of someone I taught with in 1968. I had not seen him since then. The deceased was William, but his brother Fred, named among his survivors, was surely the colleague I remembered. 

The funeral was scheduled at a nearby funeral home on Sunday at 11:30 AM. Thanks to Steve’s intervention, I got there shortly after 11 and went into the parlor where the family was receiving guests before the service. When I did not recognize my former colleague, I asked a young man if Fred was there. By chance, I was talking to Fred’s son who told me that his father was ill. I explained myself, gave him my card and asked him to extend my condolences to his father. 

I hope that Fred recovers soon and calls me after his mourning period so that we might catch up on 58 years.
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From the funeral parlor, I headed to Brooklyn to pick up Geri and accompany her to visit her husband and my longtime (but not as long as Arthur) friend Burt Grossman, currently in a rehab facility. Burt had a nasty fall while moving stuff from his old apartment to his new one in the same building. 

I didn’t want to say anything, but moving to a lower floor in the same building invites the Evil Eye. Kinahora (or kein ayin hara) is a Yiddish phrase that translates to "no evil eye," used to ward off envy and misfortune.
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Driving back to Manhattan, I sought someplace interesting to eat lunch, someplace with a parking space in the same Zip Code. I lucked out at Bob White Counter, 94 Avenue C, one of four locations with an excellent reputation for fried chicken.

It’s a small joint, five two-tops, one four-top and a scattering of stools. While I sat there, a constant parade of bicycle delivery men came to pick up orders. I had The O.G., the biggest fried chicken sandwich that I ever had and one of the best ($8.59). It held two chicken tenders, pickles and mayonnaise. Plus I had a very large portion of hand cut fries ($4.99). It was a lot to eat at almost bargain prices. 

Monday, July 27, 2026
This morning it was Dr. Brickman the dermatologist, not Dr. Brucker the urologist, and I was able to keep my pants on but barely. She found a few things worth further scrutiny, but assured me that I will survive at least long enough to pay my bill.
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Good neighbor Trent was available for lunch and we went to Pho Broadway, 2058 Broadway. We took the last of the six wooden two-tops coated in polyurethane. We each ordered a Banh Mi, Trent the Special Combo, pork roll, pork belly, pate and butter; me, flank steak and brisket. Both sandwiches came on narrow 6" toasted baguettes with cucumber, cilantro, pickled carrots and daikon radish, priced at $10. Adding the hoisin sauce from the squeeze bottle that sat on the table improved my sandwich considerably.

Tuesday, July 28, 2026
I was thinking about paintball today and wondering how it is being celebrated. It turns out that there are at least two paintball halls of fame, the World Classic Paintball League Hall of Fame (https://www.playwcpl.com/wcpl-the-hall-of-fames) and the Hall of Icons (https://www.iconicpaintball.com/post/hall-of-icons-2025-nominee-s-revealed-professional-paintball-honors-hall-of-icons). This division is understandable considering that paintball is a highly competitive endeavor. Note that neither is a physical structure; they are notional categories, supported by the miracle of the Internet.
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Alert!
Tinker Bell is leaving Disneyland on August 4th, apparently involuntarily.

Wednesday, July 29, 2026
I agree heartily with Tom Friedman:
“New York is the only city in the world in which at least 750,000 Jews and Muslims apiece live side by side. Rather than being a constructive bridge builder between them, [Zohran] Mamdani, the city’s first Muslim mayor, has chosen to be a bridge destroyer — using the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as his ax. It is such a waste of a truly charismatic political talent.”
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Gentleman Jerry and I had lunch at La Dinastia, 145 West 72nd Street, one of the few remaining Cuban-Chinese restaurants that were a byproduct of Fidel Castro’s Cuban Revolution, sending top Chinese chefs to New York when luxury Havana hotels were expropriated. In fact, La Caridad 72, 130 West 72nd Street, right across the street, is another example, once La Caridad 78, 2197 Broadway at 78th Street, until it relocated. 

We both had the well-reputed fried chicken crackling (what this word adds, I'm not sure because it usually means pigskin snack), Jerry boneless, me boned ($13.95 either) with a choice of rice white or yellow, beans black or red. The four pieces of very crispy chicken and the starch will keep you going well past dinner time.

Where we substantially differed was afterwards, Jerry stopped at the Häagen-Dazs store around the corner at 263 Amsterdam Avenue for a chocolate chip cone, while I went to Fairway Market, 2131 Broadway, for a 1.5 quart tub of Tillamook's Oregon Dark Cherry ice cream. To each his own.
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Even if epidemiologists were not held in such high regard in our family, we would still be disgusted by the treatment of Dr. Anthony Fauci by Republican senators yesterday. These politicians were poised to embarrass, insult and compromise him legally. These same public servants have, on the other hand, studiously avoided examining any of Mr. Tangerine’s seeming conflicts of interest or self-dealings.

By following his lawyer’s advice to take the Fifth Amendment, Fauci left his opponents to urinate in the breeze.

Friday, July 31, 2026
The New York Times delivered to our door comes in several sections, a different combination each day. Here is a picture of a page in today's business section.


All four stories have “A.I.” in their headlines. The page itself is labeled Artificial Intelligence, which I only noticed after seeing the headlines.  What does this all mean? It means that I don’t know what the Hell they are talking about. 
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