An analysis of Justice Kennedy by Dahlia Lithwick.
Bill Moyer’s “Faith and Reason” on PBS has been interesting, as he interviews authors and philosophers on faith and reason. Are they incompatible? Or maybe not? I wonder if he will interview scientists on their view of faith and reason.
Meanwhile, Slate has an analysis of Senator Barack Obama’s views on faith and reason. Interesting stuff.
Now that the US Supreme Court ruled on the Hamdan case, the Navy lawyer in the Hamdan case (who has represented defendant Hamdan, doing his duty and all that) has a fuzzy-looking future. Perhaps it means he’ll be a litigator in the civilian (private) sector, I’d suggest.
Linda Greenhouse’s interesting look at the Supreme Court’s year.
Ziggy has a birthday.
In Slate, Prof. Tim Wu raises some interesting points about whether China can create its own Hollywood unless it comes up with some changes in its IP law. Further questions arise for other industries in China, since piracy doesn’t help nurture business.
Sort of like the idea of six degrees of separation, there’s the very real possibility that everyone’s related to royalty.
Picked up some sauces that are the exact opposite of what you would expect.
Tobasco Worchestershire Sauce
Picked up from a Publix Supermarket in Ft. Lauderdale.Tobasco is known for their aged red pepper sauce, which is incorporated in this sauce. Apparently it is only available in the South. It’s a little too smoked (there’s soy sauce in it) for my taste, but goes well with beef BBQ.
Lea & Perrins Hot Pepper Sauce
From a C!ty’Super supermarket in Harbour City, Kowloon, this is your straight up Carribean style red pepper sauce. Flavorful, complex, with a vinagar aftertaste. Not bad.
Peter Luger’s Steak Sauce
From the beef emporium from Brooklyn, true believers know that their steak sauce is really for the steak tomatoes, but are pretty good for dipping tender morsels of medium rare meat. Also doubles as a cocktail sauce.
Observation: when your family becomes a composite of every TVB Hong Kong soap opera, what can you do? Cops, check. Lawyers, check. Financial people, check. Cooks, check. Medical professionals, check.
YouTube is gathering a lot of depth in its collection of videos, even stuff I thought were not around anymore. My favorite TVB soap opera – The Greed of Man I watched it during my 1991 trip to HK. One of the most well known songs from the show was Red River Valley , a Cantonese version of the American folk song. P and I were looking for the DVD version of the series in Hong Kong, but apparently it was sold out because of the recent Vivian Chow concert.
I also found a video for one of my favorite Vivian songs, “Because of You”. I’m going to pitch that for the Cantonese wedding song. Big shout out to YC for that one, if he remembers it. P’s pitching Nora Jones’ “Come Away” as the English wedding choice. What do you think?
Much to celebrate – went to 2 graduations yesterday – P’s brother and my cousin graduated from the NYC Police Academy and my mom decided to go back for her GED and had a “certification” ceremony yesterday. The former was at Madison Square Garden, and was large, very formal and regimented; the latter was at City Tech and was small, unregimeted but joyous and full of song.
Koreatown buffet place Minato becomes a part of the Todai buffet empire. After the takeover, the food is actually a level better than before – it seemed there was a bit of a decline towards the end of Minato. This would now add to the visits to Honolulu and Hong Kong, and Las Vegas branches. Now I guess we’re going to have to try to hit all of the others.
Charlie Gibson says farewell to “Good Morning America” – yet again (’cause he already left his first time around some years ago before signing on for the “temp” job in returning to GMA. And, now his gig on World News Tonight is no longer a temp thing. Boy, Charlie. Oh well.) Let’s just make this a nice transition, shall we? I’d be eager to see how Katie Couric will do with the match up by September, I say.
An interesting cable movie, combining the Western with the story of early Chinese female immigrants (which, considering this country, is a story that takes place out West). Starring Robert Duvall and Thomas Haden Church, along with an ensemble cast with Asians of America and Canada. Umm, Asian (North) Americans?… 😉
That Warren Buffett – joining forces with Bill and Melinda Gates? What does it really mean? Charlie Rose had a special interview with Buffett and the Gates – boy, I’m increasingly impressed with the Gates, really – their hopes and good work and eagerness – heck, Bill Gates seem to be demonstrating real sincerity and Melinda Gates definitely seemed determined – there’s something about hearing them speak that wasn’t quite captured when Time magazine profiled them last year with Bono for People of the Year. Geez, Bono – when are you going to join forces with Buffett-Gates? It’ll be like watching Super Friends. Or something like that.
Slate changed its home page look. This is going to take some getting used to. Boy, when you get a birthday, do you have to get a new suit, Slate?
Ooh – the Supreme Court decisions are coming out, and Slate gives us the annual intruiging analysis for the term’s ending. May this be an interesting week…
Lego is letting go of a number of employees, since in this day and age, there’s less playing with real toys.
A fascinating article on the dance festivals that NYC public school/elementary schools have done for generations. Gosh, this brings back memories of my P.S. — days, when I’d eagerly watch what the other grades or classes did and dreaded my own lack of coordination (nope, still can’t dance to this day). I’m glad they still do the dance festivals, in spite of the years of budget and God knows what other problems these days in public schools. NY Times writer David Herszenhorn writes:
…. No one is quite sure when New York City children began celebrating spring by dancing in schoolyards, their teachers leading them, often awkwardly, through the steps, their proud parents gathered round, snapping pictures and clapping along. It is a peculiar urban rite — called Dance Festival in most of the city, and May Fete on Staten Island — that has been around, it seems, for as long as the public school system itself.
“I really can’t tell you how and when and why the very first Dance Festival took place,” said Sylvia Schachter, a retired teacher and administrator who was the school system’s director of physical education from 1980 to 1990. “There have been Dance Festivals going on in various schools and various districts for as far back as I can remember.”
Indeed, Dance Festival is stamped in the memories of public school graduates from Rick Gimeranez, the chief custodian at P.S. 163, to Joel I. Klein, the schools chancellor. Mr. Gimeranez, 47, who was up early on Dance Festival morning last week to tie bouquets of balloons to the schoolyard fence, took a break from snapping pictures of the children to recall his own Dance Festivals in Brooklyn in the 1960’s, at P.S. 282 in Park Slope and P.S. 58 in Carroll Gardens.
“I remember doing the maypole, the hokey-pokey, the jitterbug,” said Mr. Gimeranez, who, like the students, wore a Dance Festival T-shirt, which was designed by a fifth grader. “I love this time of year.”
Chancellor Klein, 59, recalled Dance Festival at P.S. 151 in Woodside, Queens. “We had a maypole,” he said. “I remember the Alley Cat and the hokey-pokey and all of that.”
Unlike the serious training spotlighted in “Mad Hot Ballroom,” the 2005 documentary about Manhattan students learning to fox-trot and tango for competition, the Dance Festivals are end-of-year events in which all students participate. No ability to dance or even to keep a beat is required.
The origins, scholars of the school system surmise, lie in the 19th-century maypole dances by English schoolchildren, a custom rooted in pagan fertility rituals centuries earlier. But just as Dance Festival occurs on different days in different schools throughout May and June, it no longer centers on the maypole.
Over decades, folk dances and classics like the hokey-pokey were joined by contemporary favorites like the twist. (For a brief, perhaps forgettable, stretch in the 90’s, the macarena was the hugest thing.) More recent additions include the Cha Cha Slide Part 2 by Casper, the Chicago D.J.
“It is a tradition; we do it every single year,” said Melodie Mashel, 52, the principal of P.S. 81 in Riverdale, who recalled “being a little frightened” at Dance Festival more than 40 years ago as a student at P.S. 92 and P.S. 93 in the Bronx. “I needed to make sure that all of my steps were going to be correct,” she said.
Around the city, Dance Festival makes for curious sights, like first graders in tie-dyed shirts at P.S. 32 in Flushing, Queens, simulating swim strokes and wriggling to the Beach Boys’ “Surfin’ U.S.A.,” and second graders in sombreros at P.S. 21 on Staten Island, doing the Mexican hat dance.
Historians are largely mystified — not just by the tradition’s obscure origins but by how it survived the tumult of the school system and the vast changes in student population, from the European immigrants in the early 1900’s to the dizzyingly multiethnic, largely black and Hispanic student body today.
Stephan F. Brumberg, an education professor at Brooklyn College, said the tradition dates to the 19th century. “New York City had an exhibit at the Paris Exposition of 1900,” he said. “They had wonderful pictures of the schools at that time, including pictures of kids doing group dances.”
Professor Brumberg, whose children, now grown, had Dance Festival at P.S. 75 on the Upper West Side, said schools may have shifted to ethnic folk dancing in response to Communism. “Lots of places danced around the maypole until the Russian Revolution,” he said.
If the exact provenance of Dance Festival is impossible to discern, it seems of no import to the smiling parents, armed with camcorders, lining the schoolyard fences. [….]
Some educators worry that the tradition might fade. Carol Ildebrando, a retired principal of P.S. 21, which has held May Fete for generations, said that some principals were reluctant to take time from regular lessons. “There is so much more emphasis on accountability and assessment, it has become very hard in the spring to participate in an event like this,” she said. “It’s just a different atmosphere.”
But don’t tell the children.
Courtney Sergile, 7, a first grader at P.S. 45, danced with her classmates to a remix of the Jackson Five’s “ABC.” Through the rest of the festival, she danced from her seat on the playground floor, often singing along. “The dances they do are cool,” she said.
Prince Riggins, 9, a fourth grader, said: “I think it’s cool. You can dance all the time, and then you can dance even more.”
Principals said that the dancing can give a life-changing confidence boost to students who do not excel at academics but shine in creative arts and that it helps broaden the children’s thinking. “Children do learn by learning lyrics and dance steps,” said Ms. Mashel, the principal of P.S. 81. “Certainly it provides a lot of meta-cognitive experiences.”
Group dances have long been part of the physical education curriculum. In many schools, each grade was assigned an ethnic folk dance.
“I remember trying to teach my class the polka, and believe me I couldn’t dance the polka,” said Carmen Fariña, a deputy schools chancellor, recalling Dance Festival at P.S. 29 in Brooklyn in the 1960’s. “The idea was that you would be more of a social human being if you learned how to do these dances.”
Lori Benson, the Education Department’s director of physical education, said there was no official effort to preserve Dance Festival and no official count of how many of the more than 600 elementary schools hold them. “It’s done because it’s sort of always been done, perhaps,” she said. Maryann Wasmuth, 58, said she remembered Dance Festival as a child at P.S. 233 in Canarsie, Brooklyn. Two years ago, when she became principal of P.S. 163, Ms. Wasmuth insisted on procuring a maypole. Her staff made one using an umbrella stand and a pole bought at Home Depot.
Rachel Wurman, P.S. 163’s dance teacher, said she matched dances to each grade’s personality: disco for the playful second graders; African for the rambunctious third graders; hip-hop for the supercool fifth graders heading off to junior high.
Ms. Wurman, who grew up in Pittsburgh, said she had never heard of Dance Festival before P.S. 163. “It’s definitely one of those times in your life where you say, ‘Only in New York,’ ” she said. “There are so many things about New York City that outsiders look at it and say, ‘I just don’t get it.’ “
NYC tradition indeed.
Norm Mineta decides to move on from the world of the White House.
Last but not least: the passing of Aaron Spelling, who was behind a generation or more of popular television.
Saw the Brooklyn Cyclones opening game Tuesday night. Boy, is that Coney Island subway station looking really nice or what? The game – well, that’s a different story. Cyclones v. Staten Island Yankees. Essentially, Minor League Mets v. Minor League Yankees. Essentially, the Cyclones v. last year’s champs (in minor league world). Which means either the Yankees were really good, or the Cyclones… is a work in progress (to put it diplomatically). We left around 10:30, with the Cyclones losing 15-0. I think they finally lost at 18-0. Plus, that half-hour game delay due to the umpire’s getting injured and the teams waiting for a backup umpire to show up. Oh well.
They now have Official Keyspan Park Dumplings at the Cyclones’ home.
And in other sports news: Carolina Hurricanes beat Edmonton Oilers for the Stanley Cup. Too bad for Canada, yet again. I was hoping they’d win the Cup, considering its their national sport and the lockout was quite a bummer.
There’s also the whole Miami Heat beating Dallas Mavericks for NBA Championships. Head Coach Pat Reilly winning (but never for the Knicks?!); Alonzo Mourning winning (that other Georgetown champ; but never his old friend/ex-Knickbocker, Patrick Ewing); Shaquille O’Neal; Dwayne Wade; Gary Payton; etc. Lucky them.
I did not know that the space folks discovered that Pluto had more moons. But, the news is that they’ve given them official names: Nix and Hydra. Both names have underwold connotations, to be consistent with Pluto (the Roman king of the underworld) and its other moon, Charon (the river of the underworld).
In Washington state, they have made it illegal for doctors to write prescriptions in cursive script. Doctor, you’re either going to have to print it by hand or computer. Aww shucks.
On Friday night, saw Disney’s “Cars” at the world’s largest drive in movie theater. The experience was pretty unique, but I don’t think it is better than your modern movieplex experience. First of all, the sound quality over a radio is not as good as THX booming sound. Second, car seats do not provide the same comfort as theater seats. Third, the jockeying for position in the lot is fierce, and hard to do without headlights ( I ran over a few pylons in the dark). Then again, traditionally the movie is not the main entertainment of the night… Anyway, took some long exposures of the screen – check it out on the Flickr bar.
Saturday’s drive back involved a stop at Sawgrass, a really huge outlet mall. Bought father’s day stuff, a pair of sandals, and got a 20 minute massage. Then, the drive down to Miami was generally uneventful other than the last minute finding of a gas pump before the car return.
On the flight back, got an upgrade on American and sat next to a New York based captain. Food wasn’t too bad, but the direct to video movie Last Holiday kept us hungry. Queen Latifah and LL Cool J managed to con a movie studio to fund an extravagant vacation. As the FAs were wheeling chicken breast and bbq sauce, Latifah was being wheeled whole turkey. Anyway, the captain was very nice about pointing out different landmarks. We were also talking about noise cancelling headphones.
Waiting for the baggage to come out of the carosel, this guy that was sitting in front of us was complaining about how long the wait was. The taxi home was uneventful other than that he had no idea where downtown Brooklyn was, so I had to direct him. I made it by 11 pm.
Sunday, we took P’s dad out for dim sum, and I formally asked him for permission to marry P, which he gave his blessing. So now we’re loading up on watching the WE channel, which is having a 21 day wedding show marathon. We’re shooting for 2008, because we want and need to take our time, and the Wall Street Journal says that 2007 is a bad year for weddings (2006 is one of the best years), because it is lacking a lunar spring.
Fascinating NY Times article on a handy service from the NY Public LIbrary.
Ok, so I’ve been saying that Dr. Grey on “Grey’s Anatomy” needs a CIA agent boyfriend (particularly since Bomb Squad guy died so badly, and ok, so he really wasn’t a love interest, since she was still pining for Dr. McDreamy). But, the Powers Behind the show gave Grey a veterinarian love interest, played by Chris O’Donnell. But, turns out that O’Donnell is doing a cable mini-series on the CIA. So, rather indirectly, Grey gets a CIA guy. But, she’s still stuck on McDreamy. Sigh.
Happy 64th Birthday, Sir Paul McCartney. As Paul sang many years ago, “Will you still need me/ will you still feed me/ when I’m 64…?” Aww. Well. Life has been hard, Paul, but we fans still love you.
Junior’s Cheesecake heads to Times Square. Whoa.
And, last but not least: Happy Birthday, Slate! Slate celebrates its 10th Birthday. The on-line magazine that I consider to be two thumbs up.