Saturday, October 3, 2026
In 1938, the Pittsburgh Pirates successfully sued a radio station that broadcast its games by placing observers in a building overlooking the ballpark, paying the Pirates nothing. That decision was cited last week when the Chicago Cubs were given a permanent injunction against a company that sold seats on a rooftop opposite Wrigley Field. Are you satisfied that the situations are legally analogous?
While we are on the subject of sports, the Portland Trail Blazers basketball team fired its play-by-play television broadcaster hours after they announced hiring him. As a teenager in 2012 and 2013, he posted racist and misogynistic comments on Twitter.
It seems unreasonable to hold the adult male responsible for the blatherings of a teenage boy, doesn't it? Except, he was dumb (with a b) enough to leave the posts up all these years on a still active account.
Sunday, October 4, 2026
How is the world spending its time?
Monday, October 5, 2026
I returned to Wu's Dynasty, 210 West 70th Street, for lunch with three guys, none of whom accompanied me on my initial visit on September 9th, days after it opened. Again, the focus was dim sum delivered on carts wheeled around the bright room. We had nine different items, no duplicates. As usual, I lost track of the individual dishes, steamed, pan fried, deep fried. Bottom line came to $30 a person, substantially more than its Chinatown equivalent, but, then again, none of us live in a cold water flat in Chinatown.
No doubt, books about the Cornell University gang rape are already being drafted by people knowledgeable and unknowledgeable alike. Aside from the ugly details of the encounter, I would like to read someday how this story took off, newspaper reports for many days now, television news coverage nightly. It warrants this exposure, but presumably so do many other crimes and offences that arouse little or no interest. What's special this time?
. . .
Fordham University, a Jesuit institution, has a healthy Jewish studies program. Tonight, we went there to see Sabbath Queen, a documentary about Amichai Lau-Lavie, a gay Israeli man from a family of rabbis going back many generations, including his father and his uncle, the Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi of Israel. The movie was filmed over 21 years as Amichai comes out of the closet, leaves Israel for New York, performs as a drag queen, becomes involved with the proudly unconventional Lab Shul, enters the Jewish Theological Seminary and becomes ordained as a rabbi. It's some journey, as you might imagine. The movie's director was around to answer questions after the showing.
. . .
Christa Pike, the Tennessee inmate convicted of murder, has regained consciousness from the botched attempt to execute her.
Shortly after news of Pike's resuscitation, Frank Strada, who resigned as prison warden soon after the failed execution, was allegedly offered a consulting role on vaccines and injections by Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
Wednesday, October 7, 2026
Just announcing this date will tell a story far into the future, like December 7th and 9/11.
Tonight, we went to see The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue, a documentary about October 7th. It's the rather amazing story of Noam Tibor, a retired Israeli general, living in Tel Aviv, armed only with a pistol and accompanied by his wife, who rushed to save his son and family in a besieged kibbutz abutting Gaza. For much of the movie, Tibor describes his mission as he retraces his path.
For a valuable portion of the movie, we have to thank Hamas. A number of their participants live streamed their barbaric rampage, aiming at civilians at home, driving by or at the Nova music festival. Seeing the glee generated by the shooting up of modest residential dwellings, the execution of already wounded people and the tossing of grenades into huddled groups of concertgoers, I suspended my rachmones for the anticipated Gazan retaliatory victims. I'm only human, I guess.
. . .
I had two doctors' appointments, Dr. Ji for another shot in my back for pain relief and Dr. DeLuca to prepare for cataract surgery on my left eye. In between, I had lunch at Taco Mahal, 1109 Lexington Avenue, the third location in this venture attempting to fuse Indian and Mexican cuisines. It's a small place, brightly decorated in off-white and orange. You order at a counter and get served at one of six two-tops or two narrow ledges with two stools each.
The results lean most heavily towards Asia over America. Rotis (pancakes) and naans (flatbreads) are wrapped around familiar dishes, such as saag paneer and lamb curry, and labelled tacos. I had the Taco Mahal Trio Special, chicken tikka masala on an onion naan, with a side of "Masala fries" and a bottle of Coke Zero, nominally for $24, I say nominally because a 20% tip was added on unasked.
The flavors were honest, not tamped down for hesitant tastes. Eight chunks of chicken in a spicy, creamy tomato sauce sat on a tasty, fresh onion naan. It proved quite filling, though not cheap.
Thursday, October 8, 2026
I went to Costco to get a pair of glasses for the interim period with one eye surgically repaired and the other not. It gave me the opportunity to get an all-beef, quarter-pound hot dog for $1.50 with all the Coke you can drink, well almost all, the Coke Zero fountain delivered seltzer only, no syrup.
. . .
Cousins of cousins Barbara & Bernie's return to the Left Coast has been delayed sufficiently to have one last meal with us. We went to L'Incontro By Rocco, 1572 Second Avenue, once simply L'Incontro in Astoria. The 82-seat dining room was crowded, noisy without being uncomfortable and decorated just short of the point of being garish. The food was predictably good, the service attentive.
I had Vongole a Modo Nostro, stuffed clams, 4 for me, 2 for Bernie ($22) and Rigatoni al Ragu di Vitello, a large portion of al dente pasta with veal ragu ($28). Since I drove, I stuck to sparkling water.
Friday, October 9, 2026
I paid a visit to Tom Terrific in his 43rd floor aerie overlooking the Hudson River where he is recovering from hip surgery. I mean surgery on his hip, not cool and groovy surgery.
You mentioned the Jewish Studies at Fordham. In addition to everything else, they have a Jewish Texts group of faculty members who meet three times a semester and read Jewish texts. Because one of my books was published by Fordham i am a member of this group. This semester we are reading, " Days of Deliverance- Purim and Chanukah," by Rabbi Joseph Soloveichik. a very stimulating book and more interesting than it sounds.
ReplyDelete