Burke!

I'm working my way through a short collection of Burke - he would not sound out of place today, and I would be on his side. His economic instincts particularly are wonderful, as we see here in his "Thoughts on Scarcity", though the same sentiments apply to everything else, I think:

"To provide for us in our necessities is not in the power of government. It would be a vain presumption in statesmen to think they can do it. The people maintain them, and not they the people. It is in the power of government to prevent mch evil; it can do very little positive good in this, or perhaps in anything else".

2007 Restaurants

I have done a quick back of the envelope calculation of how many restaurants I ate at in 2007, based on credit card records and records on Seamless Web, the delivery manager for my firm (and for most financial and law firms in New York city). Total? 70 personal restaurants, with my girlfriend, family, or friends. And a staggering 204 restaurants at the firm, not including those nights where I went out to grab a burger at McDonald's out of sheer desperation at staying in my office.

This all connects, because I have recently read Michael Pollan's "In Defence of Food", which lists various rules for healthy eating in the back. I was startled to see him basically ignore restaurants, which really are at the root of much of the problem with their extreme portions, salt, fat, and unknown chemicals. Eating actual food mostly at home is a huge lifestyle improvement, and during my vacation thus far have felt it to be one of the biggest differences in my health.