Satan and Yoga

 

Politics, picnics, and chips, by Hal Brown

Previous posts in right column.

April 25, 2022

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These are the best tasting potato chips I have ever eaten, at least since I left New York where as a kid we always had Wise Potato Chip which I didn't see for sale in Michigan or Oregon. The company still exists (website) and has quite a few varieties in addition to the standard unflavored which I grew up eating.

 Here's the Boulder Canyon company website. I got them from New Seasons.

Yesterday was a sunny Sunday with the temperature hitting the low 70's. It  began with a picnic at nearby Sellwood park. I'd never been there before. Unlike Molalla State Park and Willamette Park in West Linn which are favorite places to grab a table next to the river there are no riverside tables at Sellwood Park. In fact you can't even see the river from the park. 

Instead you can get a decent view of downtown Portland's taller buildings.

Still, it is pleasant place to go for a picnic. Although it was quite crowded it was possible to find a fairly isolated table (below).

There was good political news for a change yesterday. 

This came when the results of the French presidential election were announced and the pro-Putin anti-immigration nationalist Marine Le Pen suffered a major defeat. While it is disturbing that she got about 40% of the vote indicating how many voters in France share her views this isn't all that different than the numbers who share the views of Trump and his minions here. 

Here's E.J. Dionne, Jr from the Wash Post (subscription)

Excerpt:

The robust victory of France’s middle-of-the-road President Emmanuel Macron in Sunday’s election is good news for the Western alliance on behalf of Ukraine and bad news for Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Macron’s reelection is also a triumph for the European Union and a setback for those who would weaken it or break it up.

And the defeat of far-right leader Marine Le Pen dealt an important blow to nationalist forces in Europe focused on limiting immigration and marginalizing immigrants, particularly Muslims. It was thus a victory for democracy as well.

The size of Macron’s margin — projected at 59 percent to Le Pen’s 41 percent — was more comfortable than many of his supporters expected even two weeks ago, when Macron and Le Pen advanced to the decisive round.

It reflected Macron’s success in making the dangers of a Le Pen presidency more salient to key voter groups than their frustrations with inflation, their sense that he is out of touch, and a conviction among progressives that while he promised five years ago to be neither right nor left, he governed more from the center-right. To woo the left, Macron softened his stance on economic questions, notably his proposals to raise the eligibility age for social security. 

His conclusion: None of this, however, should detract from Macron’s extraordinary achievement. A loner who broke with the major parties and, from scratch, built a novel coalition of the center managed to win a decisive reelection in a time of deep discontent and uncertainty. He prevailed in a nation that has not looked kindly on incumbents for decades.

And through his victory, he saved Europe from political catastrophe.

My illustration is probably wishful thinking. Would it be that her fate could be the same as that of the Wicked Witch.

Too bad we don't have a Dorothy to set her on fire when she was attempting to use a torch to burn the Straw Man. We need a Dorothy to destroy, as the witch calls it "her beautiful legacy".... which is of course was to be legacy of evil.

Watch video.

Milwaukie Cafe and Bottle Shop, fitover eyeglasses - Hal Brown

 April 23, 2022

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Previous editions archive in right column

I was at the eye doctor in nearby Milwaukie buying Jonathan Paul fitover sun glasses. I saw similar glasses made by Cocoon advertised online and decided to replace my cheap clip-on sun blockers. These are best bought in-person since you can try them on, see how they look, and get advice from expert opticians like those at my local EyeHealth Northwest Optical Shop. (By the way, I am letting my beard grow out.)

These fit over prescription glasses. They come with a lanyard so you can hang them from your neck when not using them.

Since it was noon I thought I'd ask for a recommendation of a nearby restaurant and the opticians sad that the best place for lunch was the Milwaukie Cafe and Bottle Shop. 

It is located in an easy to miss small building while you are driving about a mile past Providence Milwaukie Hospital and my doctors office on SE 32nd Avenue. 

If you decide to go there watch for this store as it is right across the street and the restaurant (next to a dog grooming place) easy to miss:

Here's the menu, click below to enlarge, (which is also on their website here). The restaurant is open only for breakfast and lunch (hours 7:30AM to 2:30 PM).

Assuming you are coming from the direction of the hospital you won't see the mural until you park in the lot (which is in serious need of paving since there's a gaping pothole in it) across the street.

Here are some photos of the interior. Note the signs which show that the owners are progressive.

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The food was tasty and the staff was friendly. You order at the counter and a server brings the food to your table, which you bus for yourself. 

The opticians recommended the brisket which I planned to have but they were out of it so I ordered slow cooked pork shoulder with a fried egg on polenta. It was very good as was my companion's veggie bowl.

Below is the art on the wall which is for sale:

Quiz for the day

You don't have to be exact in identifying this to win. Can you tell basically what it is. Click photo to find out.

Coming attraction:

While on the subject of Jewish delis.....

Streaming video, Hal Brown

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April 22, 2022

In the previous blog edition I posted about politics (here). 

I posted a version of this on Daily Kos here.

Some friends think that my life revolves around following the bad news (and often writing about it on Daily Kos, here) that seems to come fast and furious throughout the day. This blog (for those new to it check the archives on the sidebar) documents the ways I escape from being mired in depressing and anxiety provoking news. I take many trips into the countryside and eat at lots of different restaurants including old favorites and new places. Another way I spend my time is watching streaming video.

Currently I am watching two popular and long-running TV series which I viewed when the originally aired. I am watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer  (on Amazon Prime, Rotten Tomato reviews) and Nashville (read reviews) which unfortunately is on Hulu.

I say this is unfortunate because while I have had no problems at all with Amazon Prime or Netflix, Hulu goes offline every few days. It did this last night and even though I unplugged my devices and rebooted them several times a message kept appearing that the service was unavailable.

This morning I did a simple web search for "Hulu problems" and discovered that I was wasting my time trying to get the service to function. The graph below shows exactly when Hulu stopped working on my TV.  Here's DownDetector, the website that tracks in real time which services are having outages, and this shows the reason I couldn't continue to watch Nashville.

After repeatedly trying to get Hulu to function I gave up and watched a few episodes of Seinfeld on Netflix. This is my back-up escape into what I consider pure comedy genius and the best written and acted sitcom ever made. I remember very well the plots of many of them having watched when they aired, but it is a treat when I see one that I don't really recall all that well. I just watched Season Three, episode 15, The Fix-Up, and episode 16, The Suicide. Episode 17 which I am looking forward to seeing, is an hour long special, The Boyfriend which Jerry Seinfeld has said is his favorite. TV Guide ranked the episode fourth in their 1997 list of the 100 Greatest TV Episodes of All Time. Fans will remember it as the one about former New York Mets baseball player Keith Hernandez who appeared as himself.

On a related subject, I watched or rather tried to watch Steven Spielberg's Westside Story. I managed to get through about 40 minutes before giving up. I found it uninspired and boring. Despite it getting 91% positive critics reviews and an audience score of 94% on Rotten Tomatoes I agree with the critics who didn't like it pretty much for the same reasons they gave, for example The new ‘West Side Story’ has all the subtlety of a sledgehammer. Here a critic asks whether Spielberg actually ruined Westside Story.

I also watched The Batman the other day and managed to get through the entire movie though I didn't think it was particularly good even though it got 86% and 87% positive Rotten Tomato ratings.

On another related matter, last week I didn't get my issue of Entertainment Weekly which I count on to alert me to shows I might want to watch. For example they publish articles about what is coming to Netflix in the coming months. Instead I received a copy of People with a card that said the printed edition of Entertainment Weekly had been suspended. The card said the rest of my subscription would shift to People. I looked it up here to find out why.

I find People to be a useless magazine usually printing frivolous and fawning articles often about celebrities I never heard of. Fortunately, Entertainment weekly is still publishing online here.

Just a few political observations, By Hal Brown

April 21, 2022

I posted a story to go with this on Daily Kos.

I missed seeing this photo of the Jan. 6th attempted coup. It is in the middle of this NY Times article. Click image to enlarge.

This goes with a Kos story 

April 20, 2022

Is this woman on something? Look at her eyes. Click below to play video.

April 19, 2022

No doubt you have seen the news that a Florida federal district judge, a Trump appointed judge who was rated as unqualified by the American Bar Association, undid the federal mask mandate for airline travel. Other businesses are following suit. I wrote about this on Daily Kos here. 

On a personal note:

Yesterday I received my second booster. I live in a senior community so everyone here is considered above average risk of complications from Covid. All 400 plus residents where I live have received their initial Covid vaccinations and their first booster. The majority got their second booster yesterday.

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Waiting while the pharmacists set up t give the booster shots.

I had a 10 AM appointment and was the first to arrive getting there at 9:30. By the time I got my shot there were 50 or more people in the auditorium where the clinic was held. 

I wore my N-95 mask. The majority of people waiting weren’t wearing masks and were sitting right next to each other.  I see this as a kind of wishful thinking. These aren’t right-wing folks. Our senior community is not only well educated but the vast majority of residents are Democrats. This is, after all, a suburb of Portland, Oregon.

Even  though there was room for everyone to sit with an empty seat next to them, none of them with the except of myself, did so as far as I could tell. Of the four people sitting in front of me three were maskless. The man sitting next to me wore his mask.

Yesterday I documented my receiving my second Covid booster.

Check the archives on the right for photo essays about numerous car trips exploring areas from nearby to as far as 90 minutes from home.