Saturday, August 19, 2023

OU OK?

Saturday, August 12, 2023
My young bride and I went to shul this morning, she at Temple Israel, Natick, Massachusetts, and I at West End Synagogue in the Holy Land.  This way our prayers were geographically balanced, like the ideal Ivy League freshman class.
.  .  .

I was annoyed reading about a hot new restaurant in Brooklyn named Traif, 229 South Fourth Street.  https://traifny.com/

Traif means unkosher in Yiddish and the Jewish chef-owner chose it because it "melds [his] ironic love for pork and shellfish along with his philosophy of ‘cook what you love, not what you're supposed to.’"  While the website asserts that the restaurant is "Celebrating all foods unkosher . . . and some kosher," Traif's menu is hardly more Jewish than McDonald's and contains nothing Kosher.  https://foursquare.com/v/traif/4bb92b3f7421a593b492c240/menu

So, first of all, I'm annoyed because of the confusion between Jewish and Kosher.  Kosher is Jewish; Jewish is not necessarily Kosher.   https://www.thespruceeats.com/what-is-treif-4693662

Secondly, the chef-owner talks as if someone was pointing a loaded Torah at his head.  In fact, it may only be his guilty conscience that is telling him to cook what he is supposed to. 
.  .  .

 
There is another interesting matter in the area of Jew food.  Front and center is the Kosher ban on pork and other schweinerei, that is porcine products.  Well, what of pretend pork?  Herr's is distributing a roast pork (artificially flavored) potato chip, which has received certification as Kosher by the Orthodox Union, whose OU symbol is authoritative to many Jews throughout the world.  https://forward.com/fast-forward/556888/herr-foods-roast-pork-sandwich-potato-chips-kosher-ou-certification-controversy/
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c8/Oulogob.svg/1200px-Oulogob.svg.png


The potato chips contain no unkosher ingredients, thereby justifying the certification, or does it?  Exactly the sort of question that has occupied Jewish sages over the centuries. 

Sunday, August 13, 2023
Speaking of Jewish sages, I am in love with a rabbi, specifically Rabbi Dr. Raphael Zarum, Dean of the London School of Jewish Studies, who also holds a doctorate in theoretical physics.  I heard him speak today on J. Robert Oppenheimer's Jewishness and the ethical issues surrounding nuclear weapons.  What I learned, among other things, was that Joseph Rotblat, a Polish Jewish physicist, eventually a Nobel Prize winner, resigned from the Manhattan Project once Germany was defeated, before Trinity was tested, the only person known to have done so.  https://www.britannica.com/biography/Joseph-Rotblat.
.  .  .
 
Speaking of ethics, you might be interested in "What judicial ethics rules say about Clarence Thomas’ lifestyle bankrolled by his friends."  https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/13/politics/clarence-thomas-billionaires-ethics-rules
.  .  .
A real estate listing today on Oceanview Road in Brielle, New Jersey, evoked the comment “Despite the name of the road it is on, the house is inland from the ocean and has no water views."  This comports with the insight of the brilliant Calvin Trillin that topographic names in real estate are rarely accurate.  Watch out for Shady Acres, Pine Grove, or Valley Vista. 
.  .  .

If you are considering retirement, I expect that it would take more than a pretty name to lure you.  A new survey weighs several variables of affordability, overall well-being, the cost and quality of healthcare, weather and crime to determine the alleged best and worst states for retirement. https://www.bankrate.com/retirement/best-and-worst-states-for-retirement/

However, the results look like something seen in a funhouse mirror, down is up, up is down.
1. Iowa 50. Alaska
2. Delaware 49. New York
3. West Virginia 48. California
4. Missouri 47. Washington
5. Mississippi 46. Massachusetts

Monday, August 14, 2023
Here's a new entry in the All Men Are Brothers file: "Tasers, taunts, torment: How 6 White officers subjected 2 Black men to hours of grueling violence, and then tried to cover it up."
https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/13/us/mississippi-white-officers-torture-black-men-federal-charge
.  .  .
Scientists believe that they have solved the mystery of the origin of Covid-19, which has now taken at least 6,954,336 lives worldwide.  https://covid19.who.int/

The root cause of the rampant coronavirus seems to be H*nt*r B*d*n.
.  .  .

It’s Monday, so Caring Ken Klein, Dan FamousUncle and I went to Pastrami Queen, 138 West 72nd Street, for their Monday Special, a pastrami sandwich and a can of Dr. Brown’s (diet black cherry all around) for $19.95.  With the sandwich itself normally priced at $24.95, the attraction is evident.  On the other hand, the sandwich appeared a little skinny, a sin in deli-land.

Tuesday, August 15, 2023
Today is grandson Noam’s 13th birthday.  We are looking forward to his Bar Mitzvah on Labor Day weekend, our first big post-Covid celebration.
.  .  .

Madam and I went to see “The Doctor” tonight, not the Doctor, “The Doctor,” an adaptation of a 1912 play.  Antisemitism, a significant aspect of the Austrian original and much of the first act, eventually gets lost in the confusion of color-blind and gender-blind casting, "white actors play black parts, women play men, to leave us in a morass of uncertainty," according to the The Guardian's review.  This was intended to demonstrate the audience’s unconscious bias.  My own bias is towards understanding what’s going on and that wasn’t always easy.

That said, I liked the play overall as long as it concentrated on its overarching theme of medical science vs. religion.

Wednesday, August 16, 2023
"Mostly Mozart" is over, not just for this summer, but forever.  This summer concert series at Lincoln Center, relying on instrumentalists from the New York Philharmonic, the Metropolitan Opera and other classical ensembles, originated in the 1960s.  It used to be a great bargain for us culture vultures, born into families that forgot to establish trust funds.  In 1981, you could buy a coupon book of 10 tickets, to be used in any combination, for $65.  https://www.csmonitor.com/1981/0730/073001.html 

This last factoid was excavated by ever-reliable Burt Grossman.  In recent years, ticket prices rose to the high two-figure range, but, with the end in sight, the series offered Choose-What-You-Pay ticketing this season, with a suggested ticket price of $35 and a minimum ticket price of $5.  That’s as close to 1981 as we are going to get in any matter.
 
Thursday, August 17, 2023

Of course, the names could be reversed in this very difficult situation, the city having taken in over 90,000 refugees in the last year.  https://www.npr.org/2023/08/01/1191406532/nyc-has-seen-an-influx-of-90-000-migrants-and-asylum-seekers-since-last-spring

One name is missing in this dispute, the most influential name of all — President Biden.  Democratic politicians are fumbling a dilemma created, in part, by the Republican governors of Texas and Florida.  National leadership is notably absent at present. 
 
Friday, August 18, 2023
The exhibit about Jewish refugees in Shanghai has been extended to August 31st at Chase Plaza, 28 Liberty Street.  Try to see it.
.  .  .
 
Where is Herschel Walker now that we need him?


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Saturday, August 12, 2023

Up and About

Saturday, August 5, 2023 
Today, Oregon loses the distinction that it shared only with New Jersey.  Customers will have to pump their own gas at filling stations, although attendants will be available at some locations. 

It is expected to put at least 2,000 people out of work and result in more accidental fires.  That’s progress.
.  .  .

CNN says that its latest poll, “conducted in July, found that 71% of registered Republican and Republican-leaning independent voters think Biden’s win was illegitimate compared to 27% who think it was legitimate.”

That’s a lot of crazy.

Sunday, August 6, 2023
In July, the median rent for a one-bedroom apartment in the Holy Land was $3,980, the highest in the country.  

This is more than 2-1/2 times the national median of $1,506 and more than 5-3/4 times the median rent in Wichita, Kansas, the least expensive location of 100 surveyed.  That could explain why “[t]he five boroughs have lost nearly half a million people since April 2020, according to an analysis of U.S. census data.”

Could some of those people have fled to Wichita to dramatically cut their cost of living?  There are currently only 392,878 people living in Wichita and the population has been declining, in fact, since the most recent census.

Further, I could find no business in Wichita with bagel in its name and a review of Bakers Haus, 8641 West 13th Street North, in Yelp said, “This is the only place in this God-forsaken cowtown to get lox and bagels.”  So, the current Exodus has not seemed to have led to Wichita.
.  .  .

We had dinner with intrepid fellow travelers Jill & Steve at Stella 34 Trattoria, 154 West 34th Street, which turns out to be the sixth floor at Macy’s.  It’s a big room, running almost a city block.  It has a semi-open kitchen and is bright and airy with clear views of the upper floors of the Empire State Building.  In spite of or because of the unusual location, it was near full.

The menu is conventional Italian, well executed.  I had caccio e pepe, spaghetti in a rich sauce of pecorino cheese and black pepper ($23), a large delightful portion.  For a little overkill, I added one tasty meatball ($5).  Where some good Italian bread used to come automatically to the table in an Italian restaurant, we had to buy “Wood Oven Toasted Sourdough Boule” with extra virgin olive oil, cultured butter and Trapani sea salt (from the Sicilian province of Trapani) ($8).  It was almost worth it.  
 
Monday, August 7, 2023
A webinar hosted by The Forward asked “What did our great-grandparents eat for breakfast?”  The charming Rukhl Schaechter, distinguished Yiddishist, led the discussion.  The best answer — bread and butter and chicory, because coffee was too expensive.

Tuesday, August 8, 2023
Caring Ken Klein accompanied me to an exhibit by the Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum in the lower lobby of Chase Plaza, 28 Liberty Street, entitled "Shanghai, Homeland Once Upon a Time."   https://www.npr.org/2023/08/06/1192118339/jewish-refugees-shanghai-world-war-ii

It's the fascinating story of the 20,000 or so Jews who fled Europe in 1938 and 1939, landing in Shanghai, a city controlled by the Japanese but open to anyone, in effect the only place in the world accepting stateless Jews.  These refugees were predominantly middle class, more secular than observant, from Berlin and Vienna.  They included my future in-laws in my first marriage, the Bergers, whose children Ellen Esther and Gary Victor were born in Shanghai.  I was able to find the names of Ellen and Fritz, her father, on a wall in the exhibit containing over 18,000 names of that Jewish community.  

The exhibit may be closing on August 14th, so try to get there in the day or so remaining.  

It was lunchtime when Ken and I finished our visit and the narrow streets of the Financial District were loaded with office workers rushing in and out of the myriad holes-in-the-wall serving Chinese, Thai, Indian, Italian, Japanese, Mexican and Greek food plus hamburgers, donuts and ice cream.  We first tried Xi'an Famous Foods, 8 Liberty Place, one of the dozen locations of this very successful chain of spicy Western Chinese joints, rarely larger than two shoe boxes.  Indeed, we were deterred by the long line ahead of us, so we retreated to The Kati Roll Company, 22 Maiden Lane, where only six people waited in front of us.  As with most of the other places, most business was takeout, but there was some counter space for the two grandpas.  

A kati is effectively an Indian burrito, seven or so inches long and one inch in diameter.  It was offered in 13 versions, either wrapped in paratha (Indian bread) or roti (Indian pancake), $4.50-8.75.  I had chicken tikka roti roll, chicken breast marinated with yogurt and spices ($7) and unda shami roti roll, minced lamb, herbs and spices, and a fried egg ($8.75).      

Wednesday, August 9, 2023
Today's Headline: "Teenager Accused in Dancer’s Killing Is Not Muslim, His Lawyer Says"
Good, now you only have to worry about the Christians.

Thursday, August 10, 2023
I came across the term “enclothed cognition“ today.  It was coined by two social psychologists over 10 years ago.   https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0022103112000200

It’s a formal way of saying that “Clothes make the man.”  It was given eloquent expression by the Smothers Brothers 50 years before it resounded in the halls of academe in their version of a classic cowboy ballad.

As I walked out on the streets of Laredo.
As I walked out on Laredo one day,
I spied a young cowboy all dressed in white linen,
Dressed in white linen as cold as the clay.
"I can see by your outfit that you are a cowboy."
"I see by your outfit you are a cowboy too."
"We see by our outfits that we are both cowboys.
If you get an outfit, you can be a cowboy too."
. . .

We went to dinner with Barbara & Bernie, cousins of cousins.  We ate at Dagon, 2454 Broadway, which we have enjoyed together several times before.  Recently, I have concentrated on their mezze, superb small plates with a Mediterranean, Middle Eastern slant.  Tonight, I went for the Restaurant Week menu, three courses at dinner for $45.  I started with Local Fluke Crudo, with heirloom tomato vinaigrette, crispy shallots, minced okra, lemon and extra virgin olive oil -- excellent.  My main course was Lamb Shoulder Confit Skewer, with French fries, Tunisian pickles, pomegranate molasses and arugula salad -- better than excellent, except more meat was called for.  Dessert was flourless chocolate cake, again superior.  
 
Even if I hadn't drunk a few glasses of the Sequoia Grove Napa Valley Chardonnay 2018, I would have been giddy over this meal.  Dagon charged $68 for the wine, which retails at $25-35.  The industry standard is to mark up a bottle of wine 200-300% over its retail sales price.
                        . . .
 
Stephen B. Billings, economist at the University of Colorado, examined 
concealed handgun permits (CHPs) and crime victim reports from 2007 through 2011 in Charlotte, North Carolina.  https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0047272723000567

He found that CHP holders were typically white, aged 30 and older, male, politically more Republican and more likely to have been a crime victim.  They were no less subject to violent crime, but, ironically, having a CHP increased non-violent crime victimization by 46%, particularly experiencing a 69% increase in burglaries and a 268% increase in having a firearm stolen.  Losing a weapon made them feel less secure, no doubt, but it probably made their neighborhood more dangerous.
 
 
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Saturday, August 5, 2023

2+2=?

Saturday, July 29, 2023 
The population of tractor-owning Jews has increased 100% according to the photographic evidence provided by faithful reader Nancy Heller, showing her mounted, in a manner of speaking.
. . .

What keeps me up at night.  "Most people tend to know what to do with traditional investments after someone dies, . . . but when it comes to baseball cards, first-edition books, coins and other collectibles, the loved ones dealing with the estate can be stumped (and annoyed)."

Sunday, July 30, 2023
Here are some reassuring words from the Paris Animals Zoopolis Association.  “Rats are sensitive, intelligent, playful, and empathetic beings.”
Monday, July 31, 2023
From The New Yorker: “In Israel, the saying goes, there are four seasons: election, war, strike, and summer.”

Tuesday, August 1, 2023
One small step for mankind.
I took the subway today for the first time post-op.  I was headed for NYU Hospital to donate bodily fluids in case they might run short.  I actually took one subway ride and three bus rides on the round trip, thus keeping stair climbing to a minimum.  On the way back, I stopped for lunch at bb.q Chicken, 25 West 32nd Street, a very reliable source of fried chicken.  I kept it simple, just taking a box of Golden Original Half Chicken, crispy, crunchy in the manner of the Old South -- South Korea, real Seoul food ($14.89).
. . .

It's bad enough that there are Gentiles out there shooting at us, but the shooter at a Jewish school in Memphis yesterday was Jewish.  The man was apparently traumatized by the death of his father 20 years ago.  https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/suspect-in-shooting-at-memphis-jewish-school-was-haunted-by-police-killing-of-father/ar-AA1eF8xm  

"Police shot and killed [the father] when he ran out of their house pointing a handgun at his own head."  https://jweekly.com/2023/08/01/man-who-allegedly-fired-shots-at-jewish-school-shared-grievances-against-it-flashbacks-of-fathers-violent-death/ 
 
"Mister, put down the gun pointed at your head or we will shoot and kill you."

Wednesday, August 2, 2023
We New York Mets fans are reeling from the collapse of our team, staffed with the highest payroll in history.  Among other measures, the team just traded away two pitchers who will waltz into the Hall of Fame upon retirement, but approached the ordinary while wearing a Mets uniform.  Sub-par hitting and fielding also haunted us.  However, my sources have revealed the underlying cause of this malaise, too sensitive to be openly discussed, is G**rg* S*r*s.  
. . .

Stony Brook Steve accompanied me to lunch today at La Dinastia, 145 West 72nd Street, one of the few remaining Chino-Latino restaurants.  A dozen plus booths and tables open up past a long bar at the front of the restaurant.  The menu combines plantains with Chinese food and fried rice with Cuban food.  

I had shrimp egg foo young with yellow rice, perfectly ordinary, exactly as expected ($19.50).  Steve had General Tso's Chicken with brown rice, one of 22 items on the lunch menu ($13.95).  Prices too high all around.

Thursday, August 3, 2023
Madam and I, turning back the clock, did something today that we haven't done for years, we went to the movies.  We saw "Oppenheimer" on a screen that, if laid flat, could host an NFL game.  It’s a very good movie and an important one, combining science, politics, debauchery and loud noises.  It's also very long, so get a good, comfortable seat.  After you have seen the movie, I suggest that you bring a key part of the story up to date by reading
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/oppenheimer-nullified-and-vindicated

Friday, August 4, 2023
Pardon me for making a serious error above.  G**rg* S*r*s is not responsible for the New York Mets death spiral; it’s really H*nt*r B*d*n.
. . .

The Mets winning percentage is not the only thing that’s taken a dive.  New York State fourth grade math test scores declined across all racial and ethnic groups from 2019.  Proficiency rates declined 8 percentage points for White students to 39%, 6 points for Hispanic students to 15% and 3 points for Black students to 14%.  Asian and Pacific Islander (Hawaiian?) fourth graders experienced the steepest decline in math proficiency, 14 percentage points to 55%, still far ahead of all other groups.
 
"While it's very clear that a 747 cannot fly properly with the failure of three engines [https://simpleflying.com/one-engine-747/], how comfortable should we be living in a a society where only a fraction of the population seems to have learned basic mathematics in school? 
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