"I'm kind of the anti-wedding industry wedding vendor," said Mr. Goldman, proprietor of Charm City Cakes in Baltimore, Maryland. "The wedding industry is designed to rip people off. There's so much nasty stuff that goes on, so many line items. 'You want us to smile? That's a dollar a person. You want real silver or china? That's an extra fifty dollars a person.' The best wedding party I've been to was when a friend of mine got married in Alaska. They came back and we had a camp-out bonfire in rural Pennsylvania. Everybody wore shorts and T-shirts and we roasted a pig. The whole thing was potluck. I made his wedding cake, which was a huge totem pole. It was great because there was none of that weird wedding pressure to do the 'right thing.' Of course, weddings are our bread and butter, so I don't want to say that people shouldn't have weddings. But, you know, people are financing their weddings. Why are you gonna start off your new life together in debt, just because you wanted to have a big fancy party? Go to the justice of the peace, spend the money on a down payment on a house or go on a blowout vacation."

"This week we're doing a Mercury DA cop car, like a totally random cop car," Mr. Goldman said. "We're doing a space shuttle. We got a craps table. We got a bushel of crabs. Everyone's into what they're into." What would he refuse on principle? "If someone came in and asked for Hitler's birthday cake, I'd fucking step on their neck, and my whole staff would back me up," he said. "My last name is Goldman, for Christ's sake."

It's a show about him and his friends joking around and nursing hangovers and cursing a little bit while they make really impressive personalized cakes, which they then deliver. It is obvious that they take pride in what they do, and are very good at it. Ace of Cakes is currently my second-favorite TV show. (First place: Fresh Meat. ) However, as talented as he is, Mr. Goldman will not be baking my wedding cake. Stay tuned for the story of that very special confection queen.

I don't worry about it. I barely paid it any attention. I did record all the people who made nasty comments to me or left messages on my answering machine. I will retaliate at a time of my choosing. At a time of my choosing.

A smirk is alright. Or saying, Hey what happened to you guys? But the people who make nasty comments are people who are sure that their team will win all the big games. They should know that the time to gloat is not in July. The time to gloat is the end of the season, when you have a whole winter's gloating before you.

This fan looks at the standings. The White Sox are the second best team in baseball right now. The Indians are below us, but a few mistakes and we could be in their position. I have sympathy for you; we have never been a losing team for ten years in a row. Your fortitude is remarkable. But Yankee fans have a sense of entitlement, based on their being in the playoffs every year since '95. They don't have gratitude for that, as you or I would. We are thankful just to get into the post-season, they think that's their right. They've been in every year, including two years ago, when they had what most people would agree was the biggest collapse in the history of sport.

Here it is:

[T]hough I appreciate that you think I'm pretty, your physical description of me didn't make me feel any better and it didn't seem terribly relevant.

If nothing else, I feel I should be allowed to correct the inaccuracies of your blog post (i.e. that my son had a hospital circumcision , that I "chose" Judaism, etc) I'm not sure how/where you got these ideas... but they're untrue , and anyone present at Makor on June 22 could tell you that. I hope you didn't just dream them up to stregthen your remarks about me.  read more »

That would be poor journalism I think. In trying to look past your creative revision of the event at Makor, I'd like to say that regardless of your dislike for me, I'm glad you enjoyed Maya Gottfried's reading. No matter how your blog might have hurt my personal feelings, there are bigger things at stake with a book like this, and if you got something out of the event, that's far more important than my little ego.

Summers seems a business executive by temperament. He's too tan and doesn't miss meals. He's bold. The strongest impression of the hour was how often he rode right over Charlie Rose when he tried to make a point, or cut in. Summers's voice would rise and Rose would have to shut up. An executive's way. It's kind of amazing that Harvard wanted him, but I guess this has a lot to do with money.

Summers is unhealed. He had worked on some smooth turns about how it was his fault too for being too aggressive, and he didn't handle things well, but when it came down to it, he couldn't really talk about what an abrasive personality he is. Rose seemed to me to actually dislike Summers, which is rare on his part, and kept pushing Summers to take responsibility for his lack of finesse. "You were Treasury Secretary, you should have understood the fishbowl," he said. Or he pushed Summers about his highhandedness and, using the third-person to refer to Summers, said, "You wonder... for all his brilliance.. he may not be the world's most—whatever the offense was." He meant "arrogance," a word Rose also managed to drop in. Summers didn't cop to it.

I also think Summers misrepresented the forum for his controversial comments about women and science in January 2005. He repeatedly called it "a seminar." Later: "a private academic seminar."

P.S. In the New Republic this week, Martin Peretz, sore over Summers's departure (which he ascribes in part of course to "anti-Israel and even anti-Jewish animus"), desires to punish the university for Summers's departure and so plays the money card. "...[M]y own impression of wealthy alumni who were once my students is that Summers made them more generous... I know of at least three gifts in the $100 million range that were very likely to materialize and now are dicey." Note to journalists: always be vague when throwing around the $100 million figure, throw in an "at least" or two. You don't want anyone to try to pin you down.

Slithering out.

So now the Bush administration, according to The New York Times, has a new solution: Charge surplus-addled commuter rail systems in those cities for their use of Amtrak facilities--tracks, stations, etc.

could hit New Jersey Transit hard, because it operates many trains over long routes. The Long Island Rail Road could be charged more for using Pennsylvania Station in New York City. Metro-North Railroad, which terminates in New Haven, runs on tracks owned by New York and Connecticut, but the Shore Line East, which runs east of New Haven, operates on Amtrak tracks and could be hit for more. Septa, which serves the Philadelphia area, and the commuter systems serving Boston, Wilmington and Baltimore would also be subject to new charges.

But can they actually do this? The commuter rails already have arrangements with Amtrak for the use of their facilities.

As it is, the successful New Jersey Transit and Long Island Railroad lines are likely to be the ones footing the bill for the new Penn Station--which will be across the street from Amtrak's old "vomitorium," Penn Station. Remember the big plans for a rail hub that would welcome commuters to the city? To paraphrase Vincent Scully, now suburban commuters who already work in the city will be entering like emperors, while tourists slither in like rats.