Sunday evening roundup

Now that I've had my meltdown--induced by multiple attempts to shrink-wrap my back door-windows--here's the rest of your roundup.

Meningitis victims--and surviving relatives--have not been accorded honesty and transparency.

A Montgomery County synagogue grapples with a case of endless moral dilemmas, and no easy answers. Either way--and I cite these words without applying them to the conflict in question--let us all, this election season, keep in mind the following:

Generosity of thought, willingness to explore the concepts and words of the other side, is a core criterion of holy, righteous communication...

Mordechai Kaplan, founder of Reconstructionist Judaism, wrote: “From the cowardice that shrinks from new truth; from the laziness that is content with half-truths; from the arrogance that thinks it knows all truth – O, God of truth, deliver us.” Amen.

To hold our positions humbly means knowing we could be wrong. God knows all; we don’t. We should continually try to learn more, surrounding ourselves with people whose experiences and knowledge bases differ.

Cory Booker has managed his share of miracles, but needs more.

Japan is stuck in a state of 'meh.'

Russia's dissidents keep on keepin' on (and getting arrested for it).

It should surprise no one that Anne Applebaum's "Iron Curtain" is deemed sophisticated and edifying.

A new book about the stupidly depleted Atlantic is a cautionary tale for the planet as a whole.

A book and an article each raise questions about Army leadership (past, present, and future).

Not for the first time, Mark Bowden advocates for torture.

My theater-going is certainly down from last year, but that has nothing to do with the election; it's because so much of what I saw last year, disappointed. And I got sick of wasting my time (and money) at disappointing shows. So I've become more careful.

Many have slammed Naomi Wolf's latest book, but none (to my knowledge) as amusingly as Liza Mundy. And it's tragic that the book disappoints, because I'm enamored of its message: "Men, show some effort. It's not that hard! "Make the restaurant reservation.""

Also amusing: the Style Invitational (report from week 990).

Mark Bittman on the term 'foodie':

I hate that word. Everybody eats. So these are people who are obsessed with ingredients but don't know how to cook, or people who are obsessed with eating in restaurants but don't know how to cook or don't think at all about how food is raised or where it comes from? If those are foodies, I want no part of that. If foodie describes someone who is obsessed with things, I don't want any part of that either. If it were agreed that foodie describes people who care about the food they eat, where it comes from, how it was prepared, I'm fine with it, but I don't think that that's what it describes. I think it describes, more often than not, a vague hipster who eats in restaurants all the time and knows who just won Top Chef. I'm more interested in cooks -- a perfectly fine word -- and people who care about real food.

I have no idea who won Top Chef, ever. Actually, I know one of one guy, because an actual foodie told me about him and he just opened an overpriced restaurant near my office. I do, as you know, care about real food. And I was just pondering the joys of my decadent high-fat diet (just today: flax seeds, pistachios, avocado, pesto, dark chocolate, pumpkin seeds, turnip fries, tofu scramble...). I also thought about how skin-friendly so much of my food was, since I ended up putting the excess avocado and the inner pumpkin peel on my skin.

Wait, I don't have to go to work tomorrow? But, I have $hit to do. Like, a lot of it. And I can't do any of it from home. I almost don't know what to do with myself. Oooh, I'll read a book or something (more likely, the New Yorker, since I'm an issue behind). And I'll make the most of my new exercise bands and dozen stability balls. Ooh, and I'll seal the front door windows and call Bose.