Aloha Bread Lovers
Aloha Bread Lovers – This Sunday we plan on serving up fresh bagels and lox for breakfast. You can choose either a bagel with sliced lox and cream cheese on the side or a bagel with a schmear of cream cheese that is mixed with lox. This of course means that our bagels that are sold separately will be sold on Sunday and not Saturday. There will be a limited number so please pre-order if you are interested. Our beloved Uke Jammers will be back on Sunday for some nice musical accompaniment to the bagels and lox. As for fresh pasta – last week was Bucatini, this week it is Radiatore (shaped like little radiators). Please note that fresh pasta needs a much shorter cooking time – 3 minutes – and should be boiled in water that has plenty of salt added. We provide the pasta – you need to do the rest.
This week has been bursting with topics to write about, starting with the developments in the Middle East however in an effort to steer clear of politically charged issues, I have decided to revert to my previous habit of copying and pasting the recent Harper’s Index. For those who don’t know, the Harpers Index is a monthly, extremely random collection of statistics that is published in Harper’s Review. Below are some of the choice ones from the most recent edition. I especially like the stat about believing in Bigfoot and Aliens and about the freshmen trying to get into my alma mater UC San Diego. Enjoy!
Mahalo – David and Yael
Harper’s Index
Average amount that a U.S. worker has saved for retirement: $955
Percentage of Americans aged 30 to 47 who have spent some of their retirement savings in the past six months: 57
Estimated number of Americans who worked two full-time jobs in January 2015: 172,000 In January 2026: 476,000
Portion of U.S. employees who would recommend working for their current employer: 1/4
Portion of Republicans under the age of 50 who describe themselves as anti-Semitic: 1/4 As racist: 3/10
Percentage by which Republicans are more likely than Democrats to believe that Bigfoot exists: 19 By which Democrats are more likely than Republicans to believe that aliens exist: 33
Percentage by which Democrats are more likely to believe that contact with aliens would be good for civilization: 46
Chance that an American believed that the government was concealing information about the moon landings in 2016: 1 in 4 Last year: 1 in 3
Percentage of American males aged 16 to 24 who are neither employed, in school, nor in job training: 12 Average number of hours per day that such a male spends sleeping: 10 Of waking hours per day that he spends alone: 8
Portion of incoming UC San Diego freshmen taking a placement exam last year who failed to solve for x in “7 + 2 = x + 6”: 1/4 Who failed to round 374,518 to the nearest hundred: 3/5
Percentage of Americans with postgraduate degrees who report using AI “almost constantly”:46
Of those with a high school education or less who do: 20
Percentage of U.S. corporate executives who say that AI saves them at least twelve hours of work per week: 19 Of U.S. nonmanagement employees who say so: 2
Portion of American mothers who say that children should start using AI “as early as possible”: 3/10
Percentage of Americans who say that, as children, they knew a compassionate, nonjudgmental adult: 35 Percentage of these Americans who say that their mother was such a person: 50 That their father was: 5
Portion of Americans who strongly believed in 2018 that society is “better off if more people are married”: 1/5 Who strongly believed this last year: 1/10
Percentage of American men who say that it is acceptable for women to be topless at a public beach: 38 Of American women who say so: 17
P.S. – A Joke: WARNING – CLICK ON THIS LINK AT YOUR OWN RISK (language and sexual content): https://www.oldjewstellingjokes.com/2018/10/31/jay-orlikoff-grandma-and-billy-246/