Saturday, May 23, 2026
Several weeks ago, I admitted to being conned by a phony advertisement for L.L. Bean. Just at the time that I was considering dumping polo shirts that were the worst for wear, I saw on my phone an offer for L.L. Bean polo shirts at a drastic discount, purportedly as a result of a store closing. I ordered five in different colors, feeling fortunate for the coincidental timing.
After a week, I realized that I had not only not received shirts, but I had not received the flurry of e-mails (much preferable to emails) that usually follow an on-line purchase, no confirmation, no notice of packing, no notice of shipping. I called L.L. Bean and learned that, while I was on record as a customer, I had no order pending and no store closing sale was being conducted.
I successfully challenged the credit card transaction and held my breath as to the possible misuse of the card by these scammers. I did not cancel the card immediately, because it was used in so many recurring transactions. I dodged the bullet there. However, the bad guys have not ceased firing.
Here are screenshots of seemingly fabulous deals that popped up on my phone in recent days.
Upon examination, the vendor is not the instantly recognizable manufacturer. Rather, the company behind these deals is "Holmbech Thomas". And who is Holmbech Thomas a/k/a holmbechthomas? According to its website, “holmbechthomas is a trendy and diverse fashion department store, offering a wide range of stylish clothing, accessories, and more to satisfy your unique fashion cravings.” If you look beyond its own characterization, however, you find Holmbech Thomas is often cited for non-delivery, delivery of wrong items, delivery of damaged goods, unresponsive customer service, and unsatisfactory refund policies. See, e.g. https://gridinsoft.com/
I was lucky, but there is a lingering problem. It's becoming hard to believe anything you see unless it happens right in front of you. These bogus advertisements look as real as they might be. People are being annoyed, harassed and blackmailed by A.I. images, resulting even in suicides. I don't think that we can turn to the Federalist Papers for an answer.
Sunday, May 24, 2026
We hosted brunch for four special guests — Carol Kessner, David & Julie Friedman and Mossad Moshe. Bagels & lox and whitefish salad were, of course, on the menu, but these deserving folks were also treated to lukshen kugel from the loving hands of my young bride.
Monday, May 25, 2026
For my wedding anniversary today, I received Magnolia Bakery’s banana pudding and Levain Bakery’s chocolate chip cookies. Happy Anniversary to me.
Tuesday, May 26, 2026
Mossad Moshe and I went to Roosevelt House, 47-49 East 65th Street, once the home of Eleanor and Franklin, now operated by Hunter College as the Public Policy Institute, to hear Zalman Newfield discuss leaving the Lubavitch Hasidic community. Newfield, Associate Professor of Sociology and Jewish Studies at Hunter College, was raised in a family of eight children. Somewhat atypically his parents came to Hasidism as adults, so Newfield had close relatives outside the community. Nevertheless, it was a challenge to choose a secular path as an adult, attending Brooklyn College and New York University where he got a Ph.D. This is the basis for Brooklyn Odyssey: My Journey Out of Hasidism. His doctoral dissertation became his first book, Degrees of Separation: Identity Formation While Leaving Ultra-Orthodox Judaism, for which he interviewed 74 other exiters, as he calls them.
Unlike others whom I have heard reciting similar experiences; Newfield was not resentful of his former life. In some ways, he feels that his intellectual development emerged from his yeshiva training where close reading of text is crucial.
. . .
The Park Slope Food Co-op in Brooklyn has voted to boycott Israeli products. https://www.yahoo.
Debate continues on the use of Russian dressing.
Wednesday, May 27, 2026
Many of us are very excited by the historic National Basketball Association playoff run of the New York Knicks. Landrey Shamet, a player, said "Knicks fans are a specific species of human that should be studied." Support for that observation comes from a look at the pricing of the first game of the finals at Madison Square Garden.
May 28, 2026
"President Donald Trump plans to attend NBA Finals game in New York"
Let the booing begin.
. . .
We saw Giant, starring John Lithgow, in a performance that won him an Olivier in London. He plays Roald Dahl, the extremely successful children’s book author who was a rabid antisemite. In a fictional encounter with his agent and a representative of his publisher, he resists apologizing for an anti-Israeli book review; “never before in the history of man has a race of people switched so rapidly from being much-pitied victims to barbarous murderers.”
The play is set in 1983, after Israel’s war with Lebanon. Its Jewish author started writing it in 2018, but it might have been written yesterday, dealing with reactions to Gaza. Dahl’s most inflammatory statements come from the record and ultimately hold all Jews responsible for Israel’s military actions, something that, I believe, is happening again today.
Friday, May 29, 2026
We had dinner with Barbara and Bernie, cousins of cousins, at Trattoria Dell'Arte, 900 Seventh Avenue. This large, colorfully decorated joint was jammed and noisy. I had not been there for 30 years, when I had lunch about 20 feet from Jerry Seinfeld. If he was here this evening, I couldn't find him in the crowd.
We shared an excellent Margherita pizza, with a paper-thin crust, cut into 8 pieces ($28). Then, we diverged. I had Cavatelli (small pasta shells) with short rib ragù, good but pricey at $32; Bernie had spaghetti and short rib meatballs ($30); Barbara had a Little Gem Caesar Salad ($19); and my inamorata had a Shaved Brussels Sprout Salad ($20). We reconvened over a delicious tiramisu ($16).
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