"Casper weighed a little over 104 pounds at the time, which means the boy — who was 4 feet 2 inches tall when he died — gained roughly 150 pounds in less than two years. His diet consisted largely of potato chips and French fries...."

From "Michigan Couple Are Charged With Murder After Death of Morbidly Obese Son/Seven-year-old Casper O’Brien weighed 255 pounds when he died last year. Prosecutors said he was bedridden and subsisted on little more than snack foods" (NYT).

You have to be very deeply into Democratic Party politics to write a blank-days-that-shook-the-blank headline about this.

"10 Days That Shook the House Map and Democratic Confidence."

That's the top headline at the NYT this morning. 

You know the story: "Just two weeks ago, Democrats felt increasingly emboldened about taking control of the House in November after seeming to fight the redistricting wars to a draw. But two court rulings — one by the Supreme Court and another by Virginia’s top court — and an aggressive new push by red states to carve up congressional maps have delivered the Republican Party its biggest burst of momentum in many months. Put bluntly, Republicans have roughly 10 more House seats that favor them than they did just 10 days ago, and Democrats are suddenly grappling with a new landscape."

This feels like one of those NYT articles that's mainly performing the service of tending to the readers' emotions. Let's all do panic together this morning. When I encounter that sort of thing, my natural instinct is to go somewhere else. If we're doing group emotion, I'm looking for the door.

So: I'm interested in the history of titles in the blank-days-that-shook-the-blank form. The original is "10 Days That Shook the World," the 1919 first-hand account of the Russian Revolution by John Reed. His editor described Reed's frenzy:

"Trump’s brand of politics feeds on the lie that multicultural cities are frightening and chaotic. If he follows through on his threats to deploy National Guard troops..."

"... to Portland, it won’t be for the benefit of the people who call the city home. The intent will be to incite a spectacle of chaos, manufacturing a crisis to retroactively justify the belief that Democrat-run cities are in need of forceful takeover. The provocation will be the point. Don’t fall for it. The Portland of right-wing imagination is a city engulfed by flames and violence, a vivid warning of what will befall other places if they vote for Democrats. 'Unimaginably bad things would happen to America' if Biden were elected, Trump posted in 2020, specifically citing the 'anarchy' of Portland.... The reality is that the problems facing Portland and other cities are nothing that can’t be addressed through normal governance, and that these are on the whole vibrant and quite pleasant places to live. 'Real America' can mean things like biking to get a vegan ube latte from a purple-haired barista, and if you’d like a taste of what makes America truly great, you can find it in a coffee shop—in Portland, certainly, and probably a short ride from where you live."

Writes Jacob Grier, in "100 Cups of Coffee in a City on Fire/President Trump keeps saying Portland is an anarchic hellscape in need of the National Guard. With the help of my bike and a serious caffeine addiction, I set out to discover the truth" (Slate).

It's nice to hear progressives paying respect to the virtues of federalism.

And what's ube? It's just hair-colored yam, I mean, purple yam. I take it you just buy the yam extract — commission earned — and mix it into your milky — vegan milky — coffee.

"The spiral staircase leading up to the roof-deck at Los Angeles’s Tesla Diner is beautiful, or at least it is expensive-looking."

"It has video screens overhead and glowy lights at the base of each step and its own special soundtrack, a down-tempo, bleepy-bloopy composition that whooshes in as a notable contrast to the main dining room’s dad rock...."

I'm reading "Elon Musk's Utterly Mundane Vision of Dining/The Tesla Diner looks a lot like what we already have, just weirder and worse," by Ellen Cushing in The Atlantic (gift link).

Yeah, why not kick Elon Musk around over basically nothing? Nearly all of the food bought in restaurants in America is utterly mundane, isn't it? But somehow this utter mundaneness is "weirder and worse." But what's this about the music? What exactly would this "dad rock" be? Bruce Springsteen? I ask Spotify and it spits out a playlist of 125 songs and #1 is "Born to Run"... oops, I mean "Born in the U.S.A." "Born to Run" is #111.

A sample of the food: "The chili was oversalted and oddly smooth, with a slab of nonmelting cheese sitting on top of it like a pillbox hat.... The french fries had a disconcerting astringency, like they’d been dusted in the same stuff that’s put on Hint of Lime Tostitos. All together, the food, like its surroundings, is simultaneously over- and underconsidered, high form and low function. It isn’t bad so much as odd."

Anyway, did you see Elon Musk reuniting with Trump at the Charlie Kirk memorial? Did you wonder what they said? A lip-reader at TikTok has Trump doing all the talking: "How are you doing? So Elon, I've heard you wanted to chat. Let's try and work out how to get back on track. I've missed you." Lots of nodding from Musk. 

"He had thought about hiking the Appalachian Trail since a seventh-grade teacher discussed it in class — it had opened in full in 1937 — and he started planning it..."

"... in quiet moments at his first job, in sales training for a hardware company, which he didn’t like. He bought a used backpack from an Army surplus store, hiking shoes from L.L. Bean, a canvas tent and a rain poncho. He carried a Boy Scout knife, cooking utensils, a miner’s carbide lamp and two canteens, one for water and the other for gasoline to fuel his tiny stove. His meals included dehydrated mashed potatoes and boiled cornmeal with sugar, raisins and powdered milk.... Food and supplies for his hike cost Mr. Espy about $300. When his trek ended, he hitchhiked to Boston, where he spent $100 on new clothes and a bus ticket back to Georgia...."

From "Gene Espy, Pioneering Hiker of the Appalachian Trail, Dies at 98/In 1951, always an adventurer, he was the second person to walk the trail in a 'thru-hike,' from Georgia to Maine, in an arduous 123 days. He later met the first to do so" (NYT).

"I make a mistake. I’m so sorry. It’s a culture thing. I don’t know. I don’t understand. I’m so sorry. I feel so bad right now. I’m so sorry, honey."

Said Winnie Greco, quoted in "Eric Adams Advisor Winnie Greco Handed a CITY Reporter Cash Stuffed in a Bag of Potato Chips/THE CITY reported the incident to law enforcement and was promptly contacted by the Brooklyn U.S. attorney’s office" (The City).

Greco's lawyer, Steven Brill, doubled down on the "culture thing" excuse: "I can see how this looks strange. But I assure you that Winnie’s intent was purely innocent. In the Chinese culture, money is often given to others in a gesture of friendship and gratitude. Winnie is apologetic and embarrassed by any negative impression or confusion this may have caused."

Is it Chinese culture to deliver money inside bags of potato chips?!

I understand there is a tradition in China of giving money in red envelopes, and, to be fair, in this case, there was a red envelope that contained the money inside the potato chip bag. Go to that link to see the nature of that tradition — who does it, when, how do they behave — and compare that to what Winnie Greco did. I'm sympathetic to serious arguments about cultural differences and genuine misunderstanding, but come on.

"Following days of legal threats and accusations of antisemitism lobbed at the owners of Good Pierogi after last week’s incident when the vendor denied him service, Dershowitz showed back up..."

"... on Wednesday to once again purchase some potato-stuffed dumplings in 'an effort to try to restore community.'"

I'm reading "Alan Dershowitz once again denied pierogi as Martha’s Vineyard residents chant ‘time to go’/‘I am very surprised that you’re here because of the things that you’ve been saying about us and the business online,’ the pierogi vendor told Alan Dershowitz on Wednesday" (Independent).

We're told there was a "large crowd" that chanted "Time to go! Go home Alan!"

"As for Dershowitz’s antisemitism claims, [the pierogi vender Krem] Miskevich noted that they are Jewish and have immediate family members in Israel, noting that friends call them 'Rabbi Krem' and that they have personal relationships with other rabbis on the island. 'Finally, we don’t back down to bullies – no matter their size,' Miskevich concluded the Tuesday night post."

There are some photos of the encounter at the link, and what jumps out at me is that Miskevich and Dershowitz are smiling at each other. Pleasantly, I think. Not villainously. 

At the Potato Café...

... you can talk all night.

Meadhouse potato harvest!

At 10:35 this morning.

"Steak 'n' Shake... we're very grateful to them for RFKing the fries. They turned me into a verb."

Comfortable soup.

 

Were you expecting "potato flakes" — AKA "instant mashed potatoes"? I loved that. 

I'm posting this video because Jacques Pépin making this soup is comfort food for your mind... but I will tell you that you can get some nice "potato flakes" at Amazon, and I'll earn a commission if you use that leek... I mean link. But commission-earning is not why I'm posting this video.

I bet this soup is actually really good. It's obviously simple to make. And I don't know about you but I didn't know exactly how to clean and cut up a leek. Please try to avoid using the phrase "take a leek" in the comments. Pépin refers to it as a "lick," so there's another path to childish humor.

"While England endeavors to cure the potato-rot, will not any endeavor to cure the brain-rot, which prevails so much more widely and fatally?"

Wrote Henry David Thoreau, quoted in "Oxford’s 2024 Word of the Year Is… Brain Rot" (NYT).

Thoreau published that sentence in 1854 — it's in "Walden" — but somehow, 170 years later, his word/phrase is the official Word of the Year. I'm just going to guess that Thoreau would consider choosing a word of the year to be a rotten-brain activity. 

Is this word-of-the-year-choosing "Oxford" really the same as the Oxford English Dictionary? The NYT says it's "the publisher of the august Oxford English Dictionary," but I look up the word in the OED, and I get:

"I'm going to go to a McDonald's next week. I'm going to go to a McDonald's and I'm going to work the french fry job for about a half an hour. I want to see how it is."

Says Trump (expressing doubt that Kamala Harris ever worked at McDonald's):

Trump: I'm going to go to a McDonald's next week. I'm going to go to a McDonald's and I'm going to work the french fry job for about a half an hour. I want to see how it is.. pic.twitter.com/5EXIqDdMz4

— Acyn (@Acyn) September 24, 2024

After The Washington Post lists Boise, Idaho as one of its "10 destinations that hit their absolute peak in summer"....

... the commenters over there go crazy, politically crazy. The article just enthuses about the Boise River Greenbelt, the Whitewater Park, the Urban Wine Trail —"a collection of wineries and meaderies with tasting room" — and the Boise Idaho Potato Trail — with various potato-based "restaurants, breweries and other eateries."

Eateries and meaderies! Sounds indulgently wholesome, one might think.

Oh, but not to the commenters! The most-liked comment is:

"No one should travel to Idaho. No tourist dollars should go to a horrible, near-fascist state that so denies the rights of women and people of color...."

To sample a few others from the top of the most-liked:

• "... Idaho is just filled with crazed militia types and all MAGA all the time. I wouldn’t feel safe there at all."

• "Do not spend one vacation dollar in the Fascist state of Idaho."

• "Boise Idaho- maga central?! Pass!!"

• "You forgot the warning for pregnant women traveling to Idaho."

• Responding to "Oh good—I was hoping a travel article would lead us to a conversation about Donald Trump": "That's the reality MAGA has created in this country. No, it's not a both-sides issue here, it's all on bible-thumping MAGA."

Windowbox potatoes.

Talk about whatever you like in the comments.

Meade grew those potatoes — in the windowboxes (because they needed full sun).

Is the soul analog?

I'm trying to read "6 analog trends that are good for the soul" (WaPo).

Choosing the less-efficient way of doing something, especially things we do for pleasure, can help us reassess our relationship with time and forgo the constant need for productivity....

Do you have a relationship with time? Would something analog help you restructure it? That's the idea here. Do your high-tech devices cause anxiety about how your life is slipping away as if it's nothing of any substance, and would holding a real book — smelling it, turning the pages and all that — help you reestablish yourself in reality?

Other analog things that might help:

Trying to come to terms with my switching off of the movie "Days of Heaven" when Richard Gere throws soup at a guy....

 

... I start a conversation with ChatGPT:

Me: 

What are some movies where someone throws food at somebody?

 ChatGPT:

Here are some movies where someone throws food at somebody:

Xi Jinping's miracle of the tiny potatoes.

Just 5 TikToks for you today. Let me know what you like.

1. How to take a picture of your potato.

2. Lonely and depressed, he thinks of what Winston Churchill once said.

3. She bought more clothes at the thrift store that turned out to be unwearable.

4. It's not enough to just tell this boy he's not going to like unsweetened cocoa straight from the container.

5. The girl who survives on 3 iced lattes a day.

I've got 6 TikToks to amuse you for 10 minutes this afternoon. Let me know what you like.

1. The baby emu shows you all its tricks.

2. Maybe I'd cook a potato like this.

3. A kid with amazing bike skills.

4. An actress with amazing cupcake-eating skills.

5. The hangry baby consumes mass quantities.

6. What it's like to go hiking with an L.A. man — the scintillating conversation will blow your mind.