Saturday, January 11, 2025

Watch Out, 15,482,083, I'm Coming For You

Saturday, January 4, 2025 
Last week, I noted the pessimism that many of my fellow successful, professional, urban, American Jews feel today, especially dismayed at the sense of abandonment by other segments of society. I, for one, continue to test my patience by reading the Middle East coverage of the New York Times and the New York Review of Books.

I don’t for a moment deny the plight of Palestinians at the hands of a frighteningly nationalistic Israeli regime. But, and it’s a big BUT, there is more to the story than that. Death and destruction of Arabs by Arabs just don’t seem newsworthy until they reach the level of the anarchy in Syria. How about equal opportunity for bad guys?
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There is another important distinction that I have been thinking about — Democrats, Republicans and reading. There is no doubt that they read different newspapers, magazines and online media, offering contrasting views of events. It’s what they seem to do with the information that intrigues me. Democrats are enervated, “Oy, gevalt! What is this world coming to?” Republicans are energized, “Let’s get those S.O.B.s.” Just saying.

Sunday, January 5, 2025
If you are wary of life in the big city, the Holy Land has just published its list of most frequent complaint (311) calls for the past year. 

The top five:
  • Noise
  • Illegal parking
  • Heat/hot water
  • Blocked driveway
  • Unsanitary condition
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CNN.com this morning asks “Golden Globes: How, when and where you can watch the 2025 awards.” To me, the operative question is Why?

Monday, January 6, 2025
A guiding principle of medical practice is “First, do no harm,” which, with its fraternal twin “Do not offend,” has come to define liberal politics. However, these platitudes fail when it comes to governance and, more importantly, campaigning for office and winning elections. Without the latter, the former is daydreaming. 

Policy requires choices, inevitably producing winners and losers. We liberals sometimes fear harming or offending, no matter to what degree, allowing the greater harm or offense to prevail. On ne saurait faire d’omelette sans casser des œufs, you know, eggs and omelettes. (I had such success with French last week, I’m pushing ahead.)
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Toby McMullen was 35 years old last week. In fact, I was visiting his family in Charlotte, North Carolina, up until two days before he was born. Today, we celebrated at lunch at Smith & Wollensky, 797 Third Avenue, a classic steakhouse, that means big portions and prices to match. We jumped right in as if I were a hot shot salesman and he a big prospect instead of retiree and standup comedian.

Toby had filet mignon ($59) and I had prime rib ($78). We shared creamed spinach ($17) and Loaded Baked Potato Gratin, with cheddar cheese, bacon and chives ($15). When I told the solicitous waiter that I was disappointed with the potato, because it was lukewarm and gluey, he removed it from the table and the check and, unbidden, brought creamy mashed potatoes at no charge. All else was excellent.

Tuesday, January 7, 2025
Having shed their ethnic origins, bagels and pizza are All-American symbols today. While pizza, which apparently made landfall in New York around the beginning of the 20th Century, is now available in many varieties, the New York slice is still an important reference point. An authoritative source found that three of the top 10 American slices are in the Holy Land.

On the other hand, the universality of hot dogs has been thwarted in North Korea. The Morning Star King a/k/a Kim Jong Un has banned hot dogs, labeling them treasonous.

In Coney Island, it’s Nathan’s Famous; in Pyongyang, it’s Nathan’s Infamous.

Wednesday, January 8, 2025
My budding acting career has not bloomed. Here's why.
Thursday, January 9, 2025
The destruction of thousands of structures by fire in Southern California will require a massive restorative effort. It will take money, material and labor, some skilled, such as architects, engineers, electricians, plumbers, others just needed to supply muscle to sweep, to shovel, to haul, to lift, to hammer. It's likely that much of this hard work will be done by folks who risked all to find a semblance of security, otherwise known as immigrants.
.  .  .
 
I might have found the secret to get the New York Rangers back into championship form. Take an Englishman to the game. John Mervin came with me tonight to the exciting 3-2 overtime victory. We started strong with free eats at the Chase Lounge in Madison Square Garden, mini tuna tacos, black bean taquitos, "totchos" (tater tot nachos) and beef empanadas. I just hope that John has lots of free evenings through June.

Friday, January 10, 2025
Today is Quitters Day, the drop off point for keeping New Year’s resolutions, for those who made a silly promise to reverse longstanding habits at a moment’s notice. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/01/10/quitters-day-new-years-resolutions/77559275007/
.  .  .

I learned that this modest effort is 15,482,084 in the global rank of websites.
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Saturday, January 4, 2025

Mais où sont les neiges d'antan?

Saturday, December 28, 2024 
The food choice quiz last week proved popular, although several of you noted that it leaned toward the treyf. I landed solidly middle class along with most of you. I would have liked it to have included Mother Ruth Gotthelf’s salmon croquettes as a baseline to calibrate the quality of your taste.
.  .  .

Once a decade, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development tests 160,000 adults in 31 countries and regions in numeracy, literacy and problem-solving, resulting in the “Survey of Adult Skills.” 

Finland leads all nations, followed by the Netherlands, Norway and Japan, making a case for population homogeneity and/or educational effectiveness, while the United States falls in the middle of the pack. There are real-world implications. “People who perform best in the tests boast wages that are 75% higher than those with the worst scores.” 

Sunday, December 29, 2024
During the holiday season, we are typically out and about, shopping, partying, traveling, gazing. If we are out long enough, the need for relief arises. In many locations, this may prove challenging. The Holy Land, for instance, has only four public toilets per 100,000 population compared to 35/100,000 in Madison, Wisconsin, the best equipped American city. If you are in Dixie, you might want to bring your own Dixie cup, because Mississippi and Louisiana provide only one public toilet per 100,000 population.
Monday, December 30, 2024
I recently sat with a group of successful, educated, urban Jews. They were prosperous professionals. They mirrored me in almost all regards. We differed mainly in our feelings about the zeitgeist (the temper of the times). They all felt beleaguered by today’s often unchecked antisemitism and anti-Zionism (if they can be distinguished). I feel more annoyed, my default response to much that I encounter. I am also saddened that these people, and many more like them, feel the need to look over their shoulders in otherwise normal circumstances.

I don’t know that any of us ever experienced classic discrimination — rejection from a job, school, organization, residence or social group because of our religion, which we openly acknowledge and display. We are far removed from “Gentleman’s Agreement.”

Caroline Kennedy married a Jew; Chelsea Clinton married a Jew; Ivanka Trump married a Jew. We are here, we are entrenched, we have succeeded. Maybe that’s the problem. Our enemies are uncomfortable with our success, unsure whether we attained it by guile or corruption, only certain that we are unworthy. We ourselves are somewhat ambivalent, proud of our achievements, but not wanting to stand too far out in the crowd.

Tuesday, December 31, 2024
The headline is self-explanatory. "The most successful and influential Americans come from a surprisingly narrow range of ‘elite’ educational backgrounds"

The article "found that exceptional achievement is surprisingly strongly associated with 'elite' education," specifically, 34 "elite" colleges and universities and particularly Harvard University. Once upon a time, CCNY was known as the proletarian Harvard, but no longer. 
CCNY did not make the cut this time. 

Wednesday, January 1, 2025
The New York Times looks back at New Year's 2000, the once notorious Y2K.
 
"In the 1960s, storage on computers was a scarce, precious resource. To save memory space, programmers routinely lopped off the first two digits of the years in dates, substituting, for instance, '99' for '1999'.” I was writing software back then and that’s exactly what I did. When needed, I would grab the last two digits of a six-digit array and slug in the 19 for external display. Frankly, in 1970, I didn't expect to have my programs in use 30 years later and I don't believe they were. But, if they were, the users deserve what they got.
.  .  .

While there was no drama for me on New Year's Eve 2000, there was a personal highlight exactly three years later, when I proposed marriage to the woman now known as America's Favorite Epidemiologist at midnight on January 1, 2003.

Thursday, January 2, 2025
The New York Times announced the discontinuance of the Stamps, Coins and Camera columns on January 2, 1994. The Chess column survived until October 11, 2014. The Bridge column lasted one more year.
.  .  .

Mordecai Kaplan, a major 20th-Century Jewish scholar, said that we Jews live in two civilizations, one Jewish, one American. After sleeping through the precise start of the new year on Tuesday night, we jumped into both civilizations today by shopping in New Jersey. The first destination was Grand & Essex, 89 New Bridge Road, Bergenfield, a very large, all-Kosher supermarket, offering prepared food and packaged products. From a myriad of items, we selected chopped chicken liver ($14.99/15.5 oz.), beef stuffed cabbage ($17.99/28 oz.) and Bubbie's Hearty Kishka ($4.99/9 oz.), all made on the premises.

ShopRite of Englewood, 40 Nathaniel Place, was our portal into American civilization, where we loaded up on cereal, milk, yogurt, tissues, potato chips, ginger ale, orange juice, paper towels, bananas and more and more. We are well supplied.

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Saturday, December 28, 2024

Family Feast

Saturday, December 21, 2024
After a couple of days with Trump dominating the political scene, we are already missing Joe Biden.
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Today is Irit’s Birthday, the reason that we have come to the Boston suburbs. There was a wonderful party for her, although she baked her own birthday cake. Actually, she would have enjoyed the party less if she had not baked the cake.

Sunday, December 22, 2024
“The United States is home to by far the largest contingent of dollar millionaires: 22 million in 2023, representing 6.6 percent of the country's population.” 

Doesn’t that seem like an awful lot? My Brooklyn upbringing left me with mixed feelings about millionaires, resentment and envy. As far as I was concerned, there were no millionaires in Brooklyn. You would have to go to Manhattan or Connecticut to find them.

Define your terms. Clinically, it’s not such a big deal to be a millionaire anymore. While a study from Charles Schwab concludes “that Americans now think it takes an average of $2.5 million to be considered wealthy,” a net worth of $1 million technically puts you in the millionaire class. It did not necessarily require the sweat of your brow to get there either. Buy
an apartment on the upper West Side or a small house in Oakland, California early enough and sit still. 

Monday, December 23, 2024
Long ago, I acknowledged that I live to eat rather than eat to live, the equivalent of kissing your sister. But there is more to say about my eating or yours, for that matter. This test places you on the social hierarchy according to your interest in food. https://www.idrlabs.com/food-choice/test.php

The categories you may land in are Lower Class, Lower Middle Class, Middle Class, Upper Middle Class and Upper Class. I’ll tell you mine, if you tell me yours.

Tuesday, December 24, 2024
Did you suspect that the American public’s knowledge base has declined recently (cf. the 2024 presidential election)? Well, there were “almost three times as many removals [from school libraries] as during the previous school year,” thanks to the vigilance of some folks who are concerned about being the land of the free.

I found it interesting that, in May 2023, an Iowa law barred public K-12 schools from having books that depict sexual acts, with the exception of religious texts. Thank goodness, Iowa youth are able to learn how they did it in the good old days. After all, you don’t begat in a vacuum.

Wednesday, December 25, 2024
Santa Claus must know that I am Jewish, because for Christmas he gave me a cold.

Thursday, December 26, 2024
New York State has joined the dumb is enough club. In three years, the requirement of standardized testing (the Regents exams) for high school graduation will be eliminated. 

I find the politics of this interesting. This change began on the progressive left — an attempt to increase the equity of the public education system. To borrow a phrase, no child left behind. The results, however, will ultimately benefit the populist right, putting more ill-educated people out in a world that they are unprepared to deal with.
 
Friday, December 27, 2024
To celebrate Hanukkah and commemorate my wife’s and Uncle Stu’s parents, Aunt Judi hosted one of her celebrated dinners to a very large crowd. Judi and Stu are now great grandparents and grandparents and parents. With a couple of us stragglers, that put 19 people around the table, mostly full-sized adults. However, I had it on reach and was able to get more than my fair share of the good eats:
  • Challah, homemade, deserving its own line item
  • Chicken soup with matzoh balls
  • Coleslaw
  • Faro with roasted vegetables
  • Aunt Judi's Meatballs
  • Roast turkey (drumstick for me)
  • London broil (two actually, one rare, one medium)
  • Carrot ring
  • Potato latkes
  • Applesauce
  • Fruit salad
  • Pecan pie
  • Pumpkin pie
  • Chocolate chip cookies
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Saturday, December 21, 2024

Odds On

Saturday, December 14, 2024 
Before the pixels were even dry on last week’s blog, the real story about the closing of Absolute Bagels, 2788 Broadway, broke. https://patch.com/new-york/upper-west-side-nyc/absolute-bagels-was-absolutely-riddled-health-code-violations

As good as the bagels tasted, they likely had secret ingredients that were not part of your regular diet, provided by the rodents and vermin that frequented the premises.
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Sunday, December 15, 2024
If you are single, and everybody is for at least sometime in life, you may want surroundings that support your style of life. Proximity to a friendly pub might be more important than nearness to a petting zoo. This study “compared more than 180 U.S. cities across 35 key indicators of dating-friendliness.” https://wallethub.com/edu/best-worst-cities-for-singles/9015

Atlanta came out on top, having “an extremely high number of attractions, restaurants and nightlife activities, giving people a wide variety of venues for dates.” There is also the remarkable statistic, to me, that over 69% of its population is single, not even the highest number, trailing Detroit, Burlington and Cleveland, among others. Las Vegas is the dubious choice for second place, “boasting some of the best and most diverse nightlife options in the country, along with an extremely high number of attractions and restaurants overall.” What I always noticed in Las Vegas was the pall of unsuccessful gamblers, watching their luck evaporate. Those woeful souls do not make for good company.
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On the other hand, madam and I provided good company for my brother at lunch in honor of his birthday. We met at Seasons 52, 217 Lafayette Avenue, Edison, New Jersey, an excellent example of what a suburban restaurant should be — large, friendly, lots of parking, combining the familiar with some innovative touches. Today, I regressed towards the mean in contrast to earlier visits and ordered half a rotisserie chicken, plump and juicy, with French  green beans, roasted cherry tomatoes and rice pilaf ($23.50). My bride had the very interesting Maui Crunch Salad, seared tuna, organic greens, mango, almonds, wood-grilled red peppers and toasted sesame dressing ($21.50). My brother had the hearty wood-grilled Kona crusted lamb loin with broccolini and mashed Yukon potatoes ($32.50).

Monday, December 16, 2024
Mazel tov to Jessica and Tavish upon their marriage high on a mountain in Colorado.
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I am a Zionist, a supporter of the State of Israel, but not a supporter of its present regime, which, at times, seems to be perpetuating violence for its own sake. These two headings appeared on CNN.com this afternoon not far apart:

•Israeli strike kills Al Jazeera photojournalist on one year anniversary of colleague’s death
•Palestinian grandfather whose tribute to slain granddaughter went viral is killed by Israeli fire in Gaza

War is hell, chaotic and unpredictable. That’s why you seek peace.
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About one-third of Americans rent their primary residence. That might be okay except that the financial gap between renters and owners is so large, renters have less than 3% of the wealth of homeowners, making up the difference is often impossible. https://www.aspeninstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/ASAPN0431-From-Rent-to-Riches-Report-241113-WEB.pdf

Tuesday, December 17, 2024
I saw another neurologist today and found that I don’t have what they thought I had, but they don’t quite know what I have and they don’t expect it to go away.
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Tom and Kim joined us at Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute, 47-49 East 65th Street, to hear Rachel Maddow, television host and author, and Steve Benin, television producer and author, discussing “What Next for America: Assessing the 2024 Presidential Election and the Threat to American Democracy.” In sum, it’ll get worse before it gets better.

Speaking of MSNBC, my version of post partum election depression has included almost total withdrawal from watching MSNBC since the election. In the same vein, I have stopped watching New York Ranger games. 

Wednesday, December 18, 2024
The word from Washington is that the next head of the National Weather Service will be Stormy Daniels.
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Evidence of at least a partially descended testicle:

"Matt Gaetz Ethics Report to Be Released After House Panel’s Secret Vote"  
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A couple of weeks ago, I closed the door on reporting end-of-the-year best of lists. They may be fun, but they have a very brief shelf life. However, this compilation is a little out of the ordinary. What books did New Yorkers take out of the library. https://www.nypl.org/blog/2024/12/18/top-checkouts-nyc-boroughs

I learned that Freida McFadden, very big on Staten Island, but previously unknown to me, is the pen name of an American thriller author and practicing physician specializing in brain injury, according to Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freida_McFadden

Remarkably, she has produced, on the average, one book every 5-1/2 months over 12 years. Make that Amazingly.

Thursday, December 19, 2024
I’m a sports fan, but not a fan of sports betting with its potential for massive corruption, a prospect that the industry fails to acknowledge. “Bill Miller, the president of the A.G.A. [the American Gaming Association, the industry’s trade organization], said last week during a meeting of the National Council of Legislators from Gaming States that he expected the industry would be under less scrutiny from the federal government in the coming years. ‘We have a Republican president, Republican Senate and Republican House,’ he said. ‘And so what does that mean for the gaming industry? It means probably less pressure.’
Friday, December 20, 2024
The Upper West Side’s Power Couple headed off into the sunrise to visit the second and third generations in Eastern Massachusetts. Festivities shall abound. However, jackknifed tractor trailers on the Massachusetts Turnpike turned the normal 4-1/2 hour trip (including lunch) into a 7 hour ordeal.
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How about Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis? Given a case of historic  proportions and flushing it down the toilet by failing to curb adolescent passions.
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