Saturday, June 15, 2024
The concept of equity arose in English law because precedents could not be found for every dispute, the normal path of common law. Ubi Jus Ibi Remedium is the overarching principle — Equity will not suffer a wrong to be without a remedy. Unfortunately, this is not always the case.
A notorious current example is the intellectual (or is it moral? or is it ethical?) corruption on the United States Supreme Court in the persons of Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas. While Article III, Paragraph 1 of the Constitution provides for impeachment and removal of a Court member, it has never occurred. In fact, the only impeachment of a Supreme Court member was in 1805 by the House of Representatives with the Senate failing to convict. As a practical matter, the wrong(s) will persist.
. . .
You can stop holding your breath. "Tesla shareholders have reaffirmed a pay award of more than $45 billion for Elon Musk, the chief executive, after it was thrown out in a legal challenge."
To understand how grossly disproportionate that is, let me run some numbers by you. In 2023, $192,084 was the median household net worth in the United States. The top 1% household net worth was $13,666,778; the top 0.5% net worth was $20,149,352; the top 0.1% net worth was $61,827,166.
Sunday, June 16, 2024
If you are in one of the elevated categories, you probably don’t have to worry about housing costs. Nothing might be “impossibly unaffordable.” The rest of us may have to pick a perch carefully. https://www.cnn.
The Holy Land does not even make it into the top 10 of this global list of 94 major markets.
. . .
While buying real estate for the super rich may not be a problem, selling can prove difficult. Derek Jeter, retired baseball great, has been trying to sell his home, a veritable castle, about 50 miles north of Yankee Stadium, for years. At $14 million, it sat like a lox for six years. Now, there’s a buyer at $6.3 million.
What struck me about the property was the configuration — six bedrooms and 13 bathrooms. Was it originally designed as a highway rest stop?
Monday, June 17, 2024
Today is the birthday of America’s Favorite Epidemiologist, my roommate.
Tuesday, June 18, 2024
I met Johnathan the poet for lunch today at Daily Provisions, 103 East 19th Street, one of a local chain with a slightly gentrified breakfast and lunch menu. This branch has extensive outdoor seating, but the hot, hot temperature kept us in the very tight indoor space where we got two high stools at one of the three small counters.
Johnathan’s company and the copy of “Just Need Encouragement and Love,” his latest book of poetry that he gave me, more than balanced the chicken salad sandwich that I ate, distinguished from the ordinary only by including cucumber, spinach and arugula.
($16).
. . .
Today's paper describes the increasing popularity of durians in China.
While long a favorite in Southeast Asia, this fruit with a spiky rind, roughly the size and shape of a rugby ball, is notable for "an odor so powerful that it is banned from most hotels." This was exactly our experience in Cambodia, where hotels elevators had signs prohibiting durians and unaccompanied youth from the premises. I've seen durian ice cream before in Chinatown groceries, but never eaten it until now. H Mart, 210 Amsterdam Avenue, the new, large pan-Asian store just outside my front door had only one product, to my surprise, Mustang King coconut durian ice cream bars, three for $9.99, made in Malaysia. The odor reminded me of standing right outside a bathroom in a heavily trafficked service station. The fruit taste was slightly sweet when it penetrated the smell. In all, skip it.
. . .
Willie Mays - R.I.P.
Wednesday, June 19, 2024
The New York Times offers the "57 Sandwiches That Define New York City” https://www.nytimes.com/
On the whole, I can't argue with the list, but it avoids the existential question "Is a hot dog a sandwich?" While some places are familiar, others are not. By coincidence, Daily Provisions is listed for a sandwich that I completely overlooked yesterday.
Gentleman Jerry and I turned to the list for lunch. We chose Blue Sky Deli, 2135 First Avenue at 110th Street, a/k/a Hajji’s, a classic bodega considered to have originated the chopped cheese sandwich. This is basically a cheeseburger, chopped up and served with tomatoes, lettuce and onions on an 8” hero roll ($8). Fabulous.
Note, Blue Sky is crowded with coolers holding an enormous variety of soda and beer, but no place to sit. We ate in my car parked on First Avenue with plenty of napkins to avoid a mess. There is a park running from 111th to 114th Street along First Avenue with benches and picnic tables.
Going forward, I hope to use “57 Sandwiches” as my lunchtime roadmap, Chinatown aside.
Thursday, June 20, 2024
By chance, I was wearing a Stuyvesant High School T-shirt today when I read: "Across the public school system, 24 percent of students are Black and 41 percent are Hispanic. But at Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan, often viewed as the city’s most competitive high school, 10 of the 744 offers made this spring went to Black students while 16 went to Hispanic students. Asian students were offered 496 spots, and white students were offered 127." This same paragraph has essentially appeared over and over for many years now.
It is a great credit to Asian kids, many of them Chinese from low-income households where, at best, parents struggle with the English language. In the middle of the last century, it was Jewish kids in a similar situation, although we were more likely second generation New Yorkers. Sadly, even now, many Black and Hispanic kids remain on the outside. One major study, though, claims that attendance at the City's most competitive schools, Bronx High School of Science, Brooklyn Technical High School and Stuyvesant ("exam schools") had no causal effect on longer term outcomes. https://scholar.
“[E]xposure
to these higher-achieving and more homogeneous peers has little impact
on college enrollment, college graduation, or college quality.” In other words, opportunity is broadly available and does not only run through branded institutions. The study recognizes, however, that "attending an exam school with higher-achieving peers increases social
capital in ways that are important for later outcomes."
capital in ways that are important for later outcomes."
Okay, but what’s the problem with Stuyvesant and the other exam schools? History, I believe. Through dozens of decades, Black Americans were treated as inferior by law and custom. Today, many have not shed those teachings.
Friday, June 21, 2024
The Ratners' wedding anniversary is one day later than ours. Our plans to celebrate together were disrupted by illness, but we made up for it this evening with dinner at Dagon, 2454 Broadway, the consistently excellent Israeli/Mediterranean restaurant. Usually, we take advantage of their large outdoor dining section, but a wise choice placed us inside away from the 90+ temperature, at least temporarily.
As has become the custom with us at Dagon, we concentrated on the mezze, the appetizers, the vorspeis, the starters. Dagon offers 6 for $51. We chose Japanese eggplant confit, roasted garlic, tomato jam, buttermilk, shabazi (either a Yemeni spice mixture or a 17th century Yemeni rabbi) breadcrumbs (2 orders); Sasso chicken liver mousse, mustard seeds, date syrup, crispy shallots, baharat (spice blend including paprika, pepper, cumin, coriander, cinnamon, cloves, cardamon); marinated beets, horseradish yogurt, chickpeas, crispy beef tongue; muhamarra, spicy roast pepper & almond dip; hummus, green harissa, tomato jam. We added a small plate, shishbarak, Lebanese mushroom filled dumplings, warm yogurt, pine nuts, spicy herb sauce ($23).
I offer this attention to detail out of admiration.
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