Good Wednesday morning.
I don’t know about you, but I am not a big fan of eating outdoors. Perhaps I should qualify that. I like eating on patios well enough, I guess, and also am not opposed to screened-in porches. You know what they say about fresh air enhancing the appetite, well, that’s true enough. And if the scenery is nice, so much the better.
But consuming a meal while fully exposed to the elements – namely bugs that crawl and bite, animals interested in “sharing” my edibles, and extreme heat or rain that either spoils food or makes it soggy – is not my idea of a good time.
This point of view generally does not apply to beverages or snacks. A handful of trail mix and a swig of water by the side of the trail, for example, or an energy gel or piece of PBJ at a refueling stop during a long race. These are requirements. And they are delicious.
But a full meal, which in my mind requires a plate (paper or otherwise) and cutlery, is best enjoyed at a table – not of the rough-hewn unfinished wood variety – while sitting in an actual chair – preferably not of the woven or even molded plastic variety.
Needless to say, I am not big into picnics. I know. I’m a killjoy. Maybe even unAmerican. I’m sorry. It’s just that every time I sit down on a blanket in a field or at the beach, I end up with sand in my food and ants crawling all over me – neither of which I enjoy. I do understand the concept of eating in situ, mind you, and if it’s your jam, then you’re in luck. Why?
Because July is National Picnic Month.
The habit of eating outside has been around pretty much as long as humans have, I would hazard to guess.
But the word “picnic” is a bastardization of the French word pique-nique, which was used during the 16th century to describe people who brought their own wine with them while dining out.
During the Middle Ages, it was traditional for food to be brought along on royal hunts, to make sure participants were able to keep up their strength. These gatherings were often depicted in artwork.
I’m thinking in particular of a rather famous painting depicting a picnic – Manet’s highly controversial Le Dejeuner sur l’Herbe, which dates back to around 1863.
The Victorians were also big picnic fans, but they were more egalitarian about it, believing that eating outside was something anyone should be able to enjoy – not just the wealthy hunting types. Common picnic foods at the time reportedly included everything from roast fowls to meat pie, plum pudding, cheesecake and cold roast beef.
Of course, the cookout is now synonymous with the American picnic tradition, and where would it be without the German contribution of the frankfurter, now more commonly known as the hot dog?
Oh, and on a much less upbeat and very troubling note, apparently there has been debates over the years regarding the origins of the word “picnic” and its connection to lynchings. This is the most definitive explanation I could find:
“(T)here is ample evidence to conclude that many lynching picnics were associated with lynchings of black people in the United States. However, we must not conclude that the root and initial meaning of the term “picnic” was directly associated or has always been associated with the act of lynching.”
If you really want to go down the picnic rabbit hole, I suggest turning to Wikipedia, which isn’t always entirely reliable, but in this case has a pretty good overview of the history of the word and the practice of dining out-of-doors.
If you’re thinking of indulging in a little picnic action today, I would suggest bringing a tarp along to lie under your blanket, or springing for the indulgence of a picnic table.
The ground is going to be awfully wet after the rain we saw yesterday, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing because we certainly needed an alleviation from all the dryness. Weather-wise, we’ll see a mix of sun and clouds with temperatures in the low 80s.
In the headlines…
Robert “Bobby” E. Crimo III, who was arrested in connection with a mass shooting at a Highland Park Fourth of July parade, has been charged with murder, authorities announced.
Crimo had legally purchased a high-powered rifle before he climbed a fire escape at a business along the suburban Chicago parade route and fired more than 70 times from the rooftop.
A portrait of Crimo as a mysterious and music-obsessed loner began emerging, a day after he was arrested in the wake of a mass shooting at a July Fourth parade that left seven dead and traumatized an affluent Chicago suburb.
Crimo, 21, who dressed in women’s clothing during the deadly rampage, aspired to be a rapper and his music got darker and more delusional as he got older and relationships with his parents and a girlfriend frayed, former friends said.
In September 2019, Highland Park Police went to Crimo’s home after a family member reported that he had said he was going to kill everyone.
A seventh person has died from gunshot wounds suffered in the calculated massacre at Highland Park’s Fourth of July parade.
The less than two weeks’ time between President Biden signing a bipartisan bill aimed at curbing gun violence and another mass shooting has left some Democrats and allies frustrated the administration isn’t doing enough to help prevent the next attack.
Among the victims of the Highland Park shooting were the parents of a 2-year-old toddler, who survived the attack and is now orphaned.
Newly signed legislation will make it more difficult to obtain a handgun license and buy high-capacity rifles in New Jersey, the latest in a patchwork effort by states with strict gun laws to work around a sweeping Supreme Court ruling aimed at dismantling them.
Biden said he was not sure whether he will visit the Chicago suburb where a gunman murdered six people and injured more than 30 others – as Vice President Kamala Harris travels to the Windy City later in the day for a pre-planned trip.
Biden honored four Vietnam-era soldiers for what he called “acts of incredible heroism,” bestowing on them the Medal of Honor, America’s highest military honor, nearly half a century after the end of the conflict in Southeast Asia.
Brittney Griner’s safe return home remains “a priority” for Biden, but White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre couldn’t say if the president had any plans of speaking with the WNBA star’s family.
“I just wanted to confirm that he did read the letter. And I will say again, this is very personal to him. Especially when someone writes a letter in such a personal way … we have made this a priority,” she added.
Griner’s wife, Cherelle, told CBS Mornings that it’s been “very disheartening” to not hear from Biden yet.
The White House orchestrated a call with celebrity Democratic supporters amid the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade… and it didn’t go very well.
Former “Will & Grace” star Debra Messing said she’d gotten Biden elected and wanted to know why she was being asked to do anything at all, yelling that there didn’t even seem a point to voting. Others wondered why the call was happening.
Biden has said he supports a carveout to the filibuster to codify abortion rights, though it’s still not clear whether Democrats will have the votes to pull it off.
As attorneys argued about abortion laws across the South, a Mississippi judge rejected a request by the state’s only abortion clinic to temporarily block a law that would ban most abortions.
The new state bans don’t explicitly cover embryos created outside the womb for IVF, but legal experts say overturning Roe could make it easier to place controls on genetic testing, storage and disposal of them.
Seeking to boost his standing with frustrated blue-collar voters, Biden today will use the backdrop of a union training center in Cleveland, OH to tell workers his policies will shore up troubled pension funding for millions now on the job or retired.
The Biden administration is applying lessons learned from controls on Russia during the Ukraine war to try to limit China’s military and technological advances.
The World Health Organization program for the fast-tracking and distribution of Covid-19 vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics is likely to close in its current form in the fall.
Macau has locked down one of the city’s most famous hotels, the Grand Lisboa, after more than a dozen COVID-19 cases were found there, with infections spreading rapidly in the world’s biggest gambling hub.
New federal estimates showed that the rapidly spreading Omicron subvariant known as BA.5 has become dominant among new coronavirus cases.
BA.5, along with a related subvariant known as BA.4, has mutations that have shown an increased ability to evade the protection from vaccines and previous infection.
The U.S. pandemic picture seems stable, but a closer look shows as public testing sites run by state and local governments have winnowed, more states have also stopped giving daily data updates, making it harder to gauge infection rates.
In New York City, meanwhile, new COVID cases are on the rise.
The national resurgence comes as the number of children testing positive for the virus also sees an increase again.
Researchers found that immune molecules from llamas can neutralize all SARS-CoV-2 strains that cause COVID-19, including Omicron.
Repeatedly catching Covid-19 appears to increase the chances that a person will face new and sometimes lasting health problems after their infection, according to the first study on the health risks of reinfection.
After a pandemic reprieve of more than two years, full alternate-side parking is back in New York City, requiring some drivers who park on the street to play musical chairs twice a week instead of just once. They are not happy.
The DGA launched the “Protect Reproductive Rights Fund” to support gubernatorial races in states where access to abortion is at risk, which will be chaired by Gov. Kathy Hochul. Democrats aim to raise $10 million for the effort.
Hochul lambasted national inaction and malaise on stopping gun violence following a Fourth of July mass shooting in Highland Park, Illinois.
New York City hotels are taking a hard line on firearms in response to the controversial US Supreme Court decision striking down century-old state rules on carrying concealed weapons.
Hochul signed a trio of bills meant to strengthen the state’s commitment to clean energy development while reducing greenhouse gas emissions and ensuring fair pay for workers.
The legislation sets new goals for reducing statewide greenhouse gas emissions to 60% of 1990 levels in 2030 and an additional 15% by 2050, and also for achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions across New York State’s economy.
Hochul credited one of the bills for updating the state’s building codes to meet energy efficiency standards.
“These bills will take a major step forward in reducing our greenhouse gas emissions as well as advance our clean energy industry in our state,” Hochul said.
Despite the fanfare the bill received, however, the governor still has not indicated her position on a moratorium on cryptocurrency mining, a major priority among climate activists. Nor has she offered support for other of their priorities.
Hochul signed a bill extending New York City mayoral control for two years, but delaying by five months expansion of the city’s education panel by eight members.
Hochul and New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signed a $14 billion funding agreement for phase one of the project to build two new rail tunnels under the Hudson River.
New York taxpayers will help cover the $386 million cost of rebuilding the Portal North Bridge over New Jersey’s Hackensack River under the deal.
While the actual digging of the tunnels is still at least more than a year away, the announcement was a sign that Gateway might finally be moving forward.
An aide to Mayor Eric Adams was robbed yesterday morning in Brooklyn, and police sources say the suspects were armed.
The brazen caper took place even though the victim, Manhattan resident Christopher Baugh, 33, a civilian member of Adam’s advance team, cautioned that he was a well-connected City Hall employee, a high-ranking police source said.
Adams spokesman Fabien Levy said the robbery puts a spotlight on the need to crack down on illegal guns in the city.
An NYPD employee was assaulted on a subway in lower Manhattan by a maniac who shoved her into a pole violently enough to fracture her eye socket, police said.
Adams announced the second Big Apple crackdown on paper license plates and so-called “ghost cars” in as many years, charging that phony tags are used by scofflaws who commit other crimes.
“When you see people using these paper plates, many times they are doing something illegal,” Adams said. “We’ve heard of ghost guns. Now we’re talking about ghost vehicles. Ghost guns can’t be traced. Ghost vehicles can’t be traced.”
State Sen. Andrew Gounardes introduced a bill that will allow New York City and other municipalities to create an online program in which a bystander can report spotting a license plate they believe to be obscured, as well as “stolen, false or fraudulent.”
Since Brad Lander took over as the city’s fiscal watchdog in January, his comptroller’s office has approved nearly $550 million in contracts with nonprofit organizations that are members of an umbrella organization his wife oversees.
The powerful SEIU 1199 union is throwing its electoral weight behind City Councilwoman Carlina Rivera in the crowded Democratic primary to represent the newly drawn 10th Congressional District straddling lower Manhattan and brownstone Brooklyn.
Families were still scrambling yesterday for seats to New York City’s free summer program for school kids after the initiative re-opened for the season with extra capacity.
Monkeypox cases have doubled in New York City over the past week, according to local health authorities.
The city agency tasked with developing affordable housing has just one full-time employee in a critical unit that funds projects, government records reveal, down from six — part of a larger staffing shortage that’s hobbling construction and code enforcement.
The NYPD dramatically relaxed the fitness requirements to become a city cop amid a record wave of retirements that has the brass desperate for warm bodies to fill the ranks.
St. Peter’s Health Partners (SPHP) will consolidate its administrative functions with St. Joseph’s Hospital in Syracuse to cut costs and increase efficiencies in response to financial challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, hospital officials have confirmed.
A controversial development on the shores of Saratoga Lake is not only raising issues about public access to recreational waters, it is also raising hackles about public access to Malta Town Board meetings.
Leaders of the Capital Roots nonprofit food organization say their employees can join a union without going through a vote – an unusual move that streamlines the process of organizing.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany recently paid $750,000 to a 47-year-old Saratoga County man who was allegedly sexually abused as a child by a former priest, its first settlement in hundreds of pending lawsuits filed under New York’s Child Victims Act.
Gaffney’s, the popular but embattled nightclub on Caroline Street in Saratoga Springs, has reopened.
A federal judge in California threw out Trump-era changes to the Endangered Species Act, including one that allowed economic factors to be considered on whether to list a species as threatened or endangered.
A special grand jury in Fulton County, Ga., is subpoenaing Rudy Giuliani and other advisers to former President Donald Trump, representing a new development in a Democratic county prosecutor’s investigation into efforts to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election.
Fulton County DA Fani Willis filed petitions as part of her investigation into what she alleges was “a multi-state, coordinated plan by the Trump Campaign to influence the results of the November 2020 election in Georgia and elsewhere.”
Giuliani, 78, underwent heart stent surgery to open up two clogged arteries, his son, Andrew, and radio partner Maria Ryan said.
A Florida ice cream company was linked to a listeria outbreak that killed at least one person and sickened 22 others in 10 states, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
The Food and Drug Administration said it would suspend its ban on Juul Labs Inc.’s products while the e-cigarette maker appeals the agency’s decision.
A preserved skeleton of a carnivorous dinosaur that roamed the earth 76 million years ago is being auctioned in New York this month.
