We got back to the gym yesterday and had a fine workout. We also hit the scale. We didn't believe the result, so we hit the gym's other scale. Two scales can't be wrong. 240 pounds. We've done it. In truth we felt we were pinching a bit less around the middle and looked a touch more svelte in the mirror. Maybe all that walking at Disney World paid off.
We watched the Giants yesterday out of morbid curiosity. Our morbid curiosity was rewarded. We turned the telly off at 28-nil. Final score Cowboys 49, Giants 17. And it wasn't even that close. JFC.
We attended a wonderful Diwali party on our block last night with lots of food (we ate way too many samosas), booze, and fireworks. Lots of fireworks. I run, you run, as the saying goes. Nobody died. Below, a Diwali Dia, courtesy of our friend and neighbor, Shourabh Mukherji:
One of our friends is an East Ender, and the more he drinks, the more the East End comes out. 'Right, I'm going to head in now and watch the telly, mate. Want another pint, Guv?' There's talk of the Stroock family hosting a small Chanukah party. 'Are there fireworks?' a friend asked. 'No, Dave,' we replied. 'But there will be plenty of Israeli fireworks, don't you worry about that.'
Speaking of...Israel Radar reports, 'IDF increasingly estimates war vs. Hezbollah is inevitable; Israel to reassess military action on Lebanon front after army completes main battles in Gaza.' I don't mean to sound like 2003 Will, 'Why don't they just go in there and blow the crap out of the place,' but the logic of war with Hezbollah is unassailable. If Hamas cannot exist, then neither can Hezbollah.
The Times of Israel has a summary of a WaPo report on what's been learned about Hamas' 10/7 plans. ''The Hamas terror group had ambitious plans beyond what it was able to carry out during its devastating October 7 onslaught, including possibly reaching the West Bank and larger Israeli cities in order to spark a broader war...' We urge reader(s) to click on through and read the piece. If Hamas was trying to do all that and failed, then maybe Hamas didn't....na, can't finish that sentence. It's still the worst day for Jews since the Holocaust.
In 2002 (more or less,) an Israeli golden age began. This was a time of cultural, economic, and technological achievement. A time when Israel became Dan Senor's 'start up nation'. The population grew from 6 to 9 million people. This was a period of confidence after the
Monday not metal. On Saturday night the Stroock girls watched several illegal live streams of Taylor Swift's Buenos Aries concert. Taylor Swift is an okay singer. She's a mediocre dancer (okay, I'm doing the steps!). She's not a great musician. She's not a gifted song writer. In no way is Taylor Swift an innovator. Rather, she's a trend chaser. In other words, Taylor Swift is not particularly talented. She's 'mid' as the kids would say. However, Taylor Swift knows how to put on a fun show and connect with the audience. Were we not entertained? Therein lies her formidable appeal.
This morning we are 12 pages into World War 1990: The Final Storm. The transition from, 'Mikhail, I must begin revolt in Georgia' to, 'Comrade Secretary, there's been a revolt in Georgia,' is jarring. We wrote a 15,000 word chapter describing said revolt. It's picked over and clean. But we just don't believe in the concept. Also, the chapter really slowed down the narrative of an already really long book. The chapter stays out. Final thought, there's a reason why we the author must needs be the last person to read the MS. The 25-year-old English major being paid a thousand quid to edit very often doesn't understand military hardware, Russian street names, etc etc.
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