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Indignity Vol. 5, No. 144
VACATION READING DEP'T.
Selected Open Browser Tabs I Brought Home From Vacation, Annotated
Rebecca Cohen
Tsunami waves reach Hawaii, California after huge quake off Russia (NBC News)
Someone else saw something online about a tsunami warning so I was figuring out what happened.
1976 Tangshan earthquake (Wikipedia)
The conversation got around to the Ring of Fire in general and that led to the quarter-million or so fatalities of Tangshan.
boom etymology (Google search)
The English/Afrikaans signs at the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden made it apparent that "boom" had to be the Dutch word for "tree," which led to the question of whether the boom on a sailboat or a boom microphone comes from "tree" too, to which the answer seems to be: kind of, but "boom" also includes "beam."
bush walk pants (Google search)
Apparently beyond questions of protection from ticks and thorns, there's also a whole world of etiquette around wearing drab colors on safari so the other people on safari don't think you're scaring away the animals.
, Detroit Free Press
Detroit Tigers trade for starter Charlie Morton in last-minute deal with Baltimore Orioles (Detroit Free Press)
Mike Elias is a fraud.
Noon Gun (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia says "public entrance is unattainable" to the facility on Cape Town's Signal Hill where the South African Astronomical Observatory automatically fires off a cannon every day at noon, under the supervision of the Navy, originally for ships to set their navigational chronometers by. If you make your way down from the top of Signal Hill via the unofficial footpaths, though, you can see right into the gun complex from above, before the path comes further down to ru alongside the barbed-wire fence.
Bitterballen (Google search)
If you keep going down Signal Hill from the guns and bear to your right, you finish descending the hill on the edge of Bo-Kaap, the brightly painted neighborhood previously known as the Malay Quarter, near an excellent Cape Malay restaurant called Bo-Kaap Kombuis whose specialties include meatballs.
doekmaal (Google search)
The Bo-Kaap Kombuis menu also says it offers buffet meals for a list of special events including engagements, family reunions, book launches, corporate functions, and "Doekmaals," which Google indicates are Cape Malay baby-naming ceremonies.
4 Dead, Including Officer, in Midtown Manhattan Shooting (New York Times)
Mass shootings don't stop for vacation. This one was the guy who was reportedly going after the NFL because he believed he had CTE from playing football.
Volkswagen Citi Golf (Wikipedia)
Pretty much every day on the roads in South Africa I would see what looked exactly like the Volkswagen Rabbit my parents bought in the mid 1970s. Even as Germany and its American market moved on to the Golf Mk2 in the '80s, and to further versions of Golf after that, Volkswagen kept making a South African version of the original hatchback all the way through 2009.
The White House Announces White House Ballroom Construction to Begin (whitehouse.gov)
He's going to do what now?
East Wing (Wikipedia)
He's doing it where?
gate E2 or tambo airport (Google search)
I was trying to figure out where we were going in the Johannesburg airport and Google's Al Overview helpfully supplied the following: "Gate E2 at OR Tambo International Airport is located in Terminal 3. This terminal is primarily used for international flights and some domestic flights, with a focus on foreign flag carriers according to Harry Reid International Airport. Passengers should confirm their specific gate assign-" For the record, there are only two terminals at O.R. Tambo International Airport, and they are called Terminal A and Terminal B.
By acclamation the most fancy and luxurious tea in Cape Town, about $34 a head with a glass of sparkling rosé included, which is less than one-quarter what it would cost at the Plaza. Some of the scones have biltong in them. When we explained we were only passing back through town on a 20-hour layover, they let us in without a reservation.
We have lived in Beijing and we have lived in Flushing and we got the best gan ban si ji dou we have ever eaten anywhere at a place in Johannesburg that Google called "Chinese Northern Food" but which is basically operating without an English name at the moment. I regret not sticking my head into the kitchen to see what they were using for fire under the wok, because the minced pork had been blasted to a degree of fragile crispness beyond anything in my experience.
Boerewors (Wikipedia)
I got a sausage sandwich. It was fine.
WEATHER REVIEWS
New York City to Newark, New Jersey to Aberdeen, Maryland to New York City, August 10, 2025
★★★★ Jet lag ended the night's sleep not too long before the dawn came anyway. It was almost cool out for the walk to the subway. From the part of the window of the 9:07 to Rahway that was not completely bleared-out with damaged polycarbonate, the eastern sky over Manhattan was glaring white. A heron or egret stood mirrored in the middle of a smooth expanse of water. Light cut through the girders of the big bridge into Newark. The AirTrain passed over the sun-soaked double desolation of an empty parking lot with a mobile sign saying it would be permanently closed as of June. One spot on the upper lip was still chapped and peeling from the Southern Hemisphere winter. The rental Honda's air conditioner, set on maximum chill at first, didn't stop being uncomfortably cold till the thermostat was at 74. The sky was empty on the ride down the Turnpike, save for one passing jet and some vultures. Toward the end of the drive, clouds appeared in the healthier blue country sky. In the time it took to pry the cat out from under the big bed and mollify her enough to get her into the cat carrier, the interior of the rented car had gotten hot. A vulture pulled its beak from what it was eating on the roadside and looked up as the Honda passed. Someone had wrecked on the I-95 Susquehanna bridge so Route 40 beckoned. A woman stood by a front-yard above-ground pool with a towel around her waist while the string of diverted traffic worked its way through Cecil County to get back to the interstate. The blue on the northern horizon looked unwholesome again but now it had well-shaped clouds on it. As traffic bogged down near Secaucus, a man in the passenger seat of an aqua Mini Cooper convertible waved his hand in what was left of the moving air. On the streets of Manhattan, people were dressed for enjoying the heat, rather than suffering through it.
New York City, August 11, 2025
★★★ A cloud of flies churned above a stretch of sidewalk that reeked of recently departed garbage. The air was dry and conditions felt mild unless a person happened to be running late and walking fast. An hour later, the sun was hot on the open spaces of the Columbia campus. An excavator with a cone splitter on the end of its arm was splintering a row of big tree stumps alongside a row of smaller trees. A security guard stood in the deep shadows under a tree, arms folded. Out in the afternoon sun, the radiant heat pressed in on all sides as if to make up for the missing humidity, but the shade remained tolerable.
EASY LISTENING DEP'T.
HERE IS TODAY'S Indignity Morning Podcast!
Tom Scocca
HERE IS THE Indignity Morning Podcast archive!
TOM SCOCCA
ADVICE DEP'T.
HEY! DO YOU like advice columns? They don't happen unless you send in some letters! Surely you have something you want to justify to yourself, or to the world at large. Now is the perfect time to share it with everyone else through The Sophist, the columnist who is not here to correct you, but to tell you why you're right. Direct your questions to The Sophist, at indignity@indignity.net, and get the answers you want.
SANDWICH RECIPES DEP'T.
WE PRESENT INSTRUCTIONS in aid of the assembly of a sandwich selected from Dr. Allinson's Cookery Book: Comprising Many Valuable Vegetarian Recipes, by Thomas Richard Allinson, published in 1915, and available at archive.org for the delectation of all.
CURRY SANDWICHES.
Pound together the yolks of 8 hard-boiled eggs, a piece of butter the size of an egg, a little salt, a teaspoonful of curry powder, and a tablespoonful of fine breadcrumbs. Pound to a smooth paste and moisten with a little tarragon vinegar.
If you decide to prepare and attempt to enjoy a sandwich inspired by this offering, be sure to send a picture to indignity@indignity.net .
SELF-SERVING SELF-PROMOTION DEP'T.
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