Saturday, September 27, 2025
If you walk around Manhattan, you won’t get very far before encountering scaffolding, playground monkey bars transferred to the sidewalks, known as sheds in the trade. They are installed as part of building or renovation projects to protect those below from falling objects. I still remember the tragic tale of a piece of lumber falling from a construction site on Columbus Circle, near where I was working, ricocheting off a building opposite and striking a young actor walking below. His head injury was fatal. This and similar events prompted legislative action.
Today, there are over 8,400 sidewalk sheds around the city.
The problem is that many of them never seem to move. More than 300 of them have been up for more than five years. “One stood in front of the headquarters of the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for 15 years.”
Recent rule changes address the permit process and penalties for abuse. Time will tell.
Sunday, September 27, 2025
Every so often in the past, at this time of year, I have responded to the teachings of my faith and asked someone(s) for forgiveness. I'm not good at it and do it reluctantly, although I don't deny the need for the gesture. What concerns me is the other direction, hearing from those who have trespassed against me. Sometimes waiting in vain for the well-earned apology. I know you did it; you know you did it. It was no mistake. I prepare myself to be gracious, but nothing is forthcoming. Wait 'til next year?
. . .
The publication of “107 Days” by Kamala Harris has renewed focus on the 2024 presidential election and specifically Harris’s nomination. She pushes back against the idea of a mini-primary, advocated by Nancy Pelosi, among others. Two questions or maybe 1 + 1 questions. Who would have beaten Harris in a primary? Would Candidate X have done better against Donald Trump?
. . .
Everybody wanted the Mets to win except the Mets.
. . .
Fortunately, I did not lose my appetite entirely over the disgraceful end to the baseball season. Madam and I went to Baazi, 2588 Broadway, a conveniently located Indian restaurant that we have enjoyed before. It has two levels, the first with 15 two-tops and one large table for eight. One long wall downstairs is mirrored; opposite is a drawing of the Red Fort, located in Old Delhi, built of red sandstone in the mid-17th Century. I can’t describe the upstairs, because I’ve never ventured there and my knees will not allow it in the future.
We had familiar dishes. Madam ate saag paneer, cheese cubes in puréed spinach ($19). I had “Dumpukht Gosht Biryani,” an Indian version of lamb potpie ($22).
Monday, September 28, 2025
Jill Lepore is in the midst of a great career. She has a chair in history at Harvard and is a professor in its law school. Additionally, she is a prolific staff writer on The New Yorker.
Tonight, we went to the main branch of the New York Public Library to hear her discuss her latest book, “We the People,” an examination of the United States Constitution, before a packed house. She focuses on the amendment process and how it deals or fails to deal with political, social and economic changes. She maintains that the very presence of an amendment process denies the basic premise of originalism, the Constitution as a static reference.
Tuesday, September 30, 2025
I’m not sure whether it was the last lunch of 5785 or the first of 5786, but six members of the Boyz Club sat down at Jing Fong, 202 Centre Street. There was a constant flow of carts loaded with dim sum coming at us. As usual, it was too hectic to keep track of the 15 dishes that we had, the shrimp rice roll and the siu mai and the har gow and the spring roll and the vegetable dumplings and the shrimp rolls in wonton skin and so on. Net result - $25 each.
. . .
PBS, remember it?, had a program tonight on the "Hard Hat Riot," when construction workers in Manhattan turned on anti-Vietnam war protesters on May 8, 1970. I think that it was an under appreciated event and a harbinger of the future through this day. The Republican Party went from blue bloods to blue collar. The sight of working class men, veterans, sons of veterans and fathers of soldiers, battling draft-deferred college students helped Richard Nixon to a historic landslide victory in 1972. The classic alliance of the labor movement with the Democratic Party was broken and has never been restored.
. . .
Speaking of conflict, Secretary of Raw Pete Hegseth gathered all the country's top military leaders for a lesson on leadership today. He told them, “At every level, either you can meet the standard, either you can do the job, either you are disciplined, fit, and trained, or you are out.” I agree totally and believe we should start right at the top.
Wednesday, October 1, 2025
I encountered him in 1992, visiting my young friend Nate at Yale University during intersession. As we walked across the barren campus, we saw a young man who well might have been auditioning for a vacancy on The Ramones. His head was unevenly shaved, his black leather motorcycle jacket had chains dangling and slogans painted in white. Nate, discreet, then and now, whispered, “That’s Elie Wiesel’s son.”
It’s unlikely that you would recognize Elisha Wiesel, the only child of Elie Wiesel. He has had a successful career on Wall Street and now manages a hedge fund while most of us, at best, trim hedges.
I burst out, “For this he went to Auschwitz?” although probably out of hearing range. And that’s my Yom Kippur lesson.
Thursday, October 2, 2025
We
ended Yom Kippur with a lovely meal hosted by Connie Goldfarb. Rochelle Goldfarb made a delicious zucchini and cheese quiche served along with lox, whitefish, herring in cream sauce, herring in wine sauce,
bagels, cream cheese and luckshen (noodle) kugel from Russ &
Daughters, the premier New York appetizing store, which probably makes
it #1 in the country. It is so popular that Connie had to place her
holiday order in August.
Hey, Grandpa Alan, I’m not from around here. What’s an appetizing store? It’s a store that sells lox, whitefish, pickled herring and accouterments which collectively keep Jews at home on Sunday morning.
Friday, October 3, 2025
What I learned today.
The term "algorithm" originates from the name of the Persian mathematician Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi, who lived in the 9th century and wrote influential works on mathematics. He never took over his father's tailor shop.
Those of us of a certain age, were waiting for the results of last week back pain shot you received from Dr Ji. But, No report, No result, Bupkis.
ReplyDeleteI noted with utter surprise that a fleeting shot of me in my Fu Manchu mustache phase is visible at approximately minute 42 of "The Hard Hats Riots". I was there at the anti-war rally as a spokesman for my (progressive) segment of the labor movement -- and horrified to see union members in full riot.
ReplyDeleteThank you for asking. As of now, pains in my muscles and joints, except my knees, are gone. I walk better, but not well. I have not yet resumed tap dancing.
ReplyDelete