A podcast about books, art & life — not necessarily in that order
This massive article on China purports to have been written by only two reporters, but its portrayal of China’s economy and social condition is so fragmented and contradictory that I have to assume at least six different writers contributed pieces to it, and that their editor was on vacation.
This piece on China’s first-strike capacity is much more internally coherent. Unfortunately, it seems to propose we return to a cold war-style arms race.
Oh, and Yao Ming is the slowest guy in the league.
A township near my home plans to buy out 33 houses on River Road near the Pompton River, level them, and “return the land to its natural state.” The state and feds are kicking in a couple million to do this, since
A federal spokeswoman said Hoffman Grove ranked second in New Jersey — Ocean City is first — in ongoing loss claims. The state ranks fourth in the country.
If you live on “River Road” or in “Ocean City”, you should probably expect to get flooded every so often.
Yesterday was the birthday of the official VM wife, so we celebrated with a fancyish dinner at Mignon, in Rutherford, NJ. Because I’m a practical hubby, I got her Lightroom for photo editing & organizing, and a cover for her Mini Cooper. And because I’m romantic and all-powerful, I also blotted the moon out of the sky for her.
For apps, Amy ordered scallops, which turned out to be less a stand-alone food and more a delivery system for the sauce and other accouterments. I went with a tuna tartare salad, which was dosed with chili pepper straight from Los Alamos. Fortunately, my taste buds recovered well enough to appreciate our Alaskan cut ribeyes. The quirky highlight of the meal, however, was at the beginning, when we were served our bread. In addition to the standard butter, the dish also contained “meat spread,” which was basically a little steak tartare intended to be spread on the bread. It may sound gross, but trust me, it was fantastic. Unless you’re a vegetarian, in which case it really was gross.
Anyway, earlier in the day, my friend Cecily stopped in for a lunch visit, and dropped off a birthday gift for Amy and an early anniversary gift, which is putting the pressure on me to come up with a good one. Only 8 days to go! How do I top that lunar eclipse?
George Will on the, um, evitability of Hillary Clinton, boredom, and the bs of campaign finance reform:
Bill Clinton has said, regarding presidential candidates, that Republicans like to fall in line and Democrats like to fall in love. Which explains the Clinton campaign’s palpable panic: Democrats have fallen in love, but not with her.