Market forces in action

My hometown rag has an article explaining how half of the car spots with parking meters get filled with cars with disabled parking stickers.

When the benefits from the stickers are so high (free parking all day in a metered spot downtown) no wonder people are tempted to misuse them.

Duck Confit is great kid food

The NYT has an article on cooking for kids that confirms something we already knew - kids like duck confit:

The fact that chefs' kids eat better than yours or mine isn't surprising. They often bring the little ones to work, where they eat tiny plates of duck confit ("They lap it up," said Matheson of his nearly 3-year-old twins)

This reminds me that one of Lucy's first phrases was "more duck".

Otto enables Paul Theroux

I couldn't find my copy of Paul Theroux's Kingdom by the Sea to reread so I bought a second hand copy from Amazon marketplace. I get a 1st edition hardback for less than the cost of a new paperback. It looked like it hadn't been read but I found a bookmark on page 33 so I guess it is partially read. The bookmark had a lot of handscribbled greek words on it with English definitions. The book also had the original 1983 receipt tucked in the front.

It is just more fun to settle back in one's chair and read a heavy hardback than a bendy paperback. And now Otto is sleeping in I might get to read it.

Own tap shoes an advantage

Boy seeks Girl in the London Review of Books and it's Singles Night.

LRB itself is here. Their personals section is here. From the current issue:

This ad may not be the best lonely heart in the world, nor its author the best-smelling. That’s all I have to say.

The Lord of the Rings: Just drop it in the Volcano

The end of year summary of the best letters written by readers of the Magazine. My favourite:

Re The old new, which pointed out the similarities between the 1954 transistor radio and the iPod Mini. The chap sitting in front of me on the bus last night was listening to a Walkman. He even took the tape out and turned it over to listen to the other side. I was transfixed.
Steve Mac,
Edinburgh (22 Sept)

Puffy American Croissants

Michael Idov writes about his failed experience opening a Viennese-style coffee shop in New York (note the little biscuit with the coffee). It is well written and describes the fundamental cash flow problem. I learned a lot with a little reading.

And he mentions the puffy American bread masquerading as a croissant.