The Morning Report
Get the news and information you need to take on the day.
I try to be as selective as I can when critiquing local media. It usually comes in the form of calling out blatant sexism, like here, here or here. But friends, an abomination was rolled out this week that simply can’t go unremarked on.
I’m talking about this list of San Diego’s 30 best burgers.
Thus, I present to you:
6 Things Wrong With the ‘San Diego’s 30 Best Burgers’ List
1. The first burger on the list is Five Guys.
2. The second burger on the list is Jack in the Box. I repeat, Jack in the Box. (Lest you believe me to be some anti-fast food snob, let me assure you that’s not what’s going on here.)
3. The mere existence of 30 burgers on the list renders it meaningless. There are probably 36 different burgers sold in San Diego total. The whole point of a list is to be discerning.
4. The main photo for the story is clearly a picture of an In-N-Out burger. Yet despite the aforementioned inclusion of Jack in the Box, In-N-Out did not make the cut.
5. The list counts The Cheesecake Factory as “Gourmet/Fine Dining.”
6. Yes, that means a Cheesecake Factory burger also made the list over In-N-Out.
For what it’s worth, my favorite burger in San Diego is at Bo-beau in Ocean Beach, which also did not make the list.
What VOSD Learned This Week
Here you go, Chargers. Take all our monies.
OK, so the city didn’t cut the team a direct check this week. But it did put real money on the table for the first time – in the form of approving a $2.1 million environmental impact report that the team insists is a waste of time and money. The county said sorry, bros, we want to help with the bill but can’t.
Perhaps worst of all, Councilwoman Lorie Zapf suggested during the Council vote that the move would help the economy. How many ways can we say this? It won’t. It will not. Stadium subsidies don’t help the economy. Like, at all.
What Else VOSD Learned
• The Housing Commission said a $20 million rehab of Hotel Churchill would be a waste of money, then it rehabbed Hotel Churchill for $20 million. (It is building bigger units than originally proposed, though.)
• Here’s a comprehensive guide to going solar. But there are still big unanswered questions out there about what the future holds for solar customers.
• San Diego Unified created new protocols for dealing with concussions thanks to our reporting.
• Short-term vacation rentals are still in a legal gray area, but that might change soon.
What I’m Reading
On the Ground and in the Sky
• I am from the Pacific Northwest, where the entirety of my family still lives. This is absolutely terrifying. (New Yorker)
• Inside the world of flight attendant internet. (Buzzfeed)
Dept. of Dominant Women Athletes
• Serena Williams is the greatest tennis player in history. Full stop. (New York Times)
• The story behind Carli Lloyd’s goal for the ages. (Sports Illustrated)
Deep Dives on Doctors
• Friend of VOSD Brian Joseph is out with a new investigation of a private contractor providing medical care in California prisons. (FairWarning)
• ProPublica has assembled a massive database of U.S. surgeons, so patients can check the complication rates of individual doctors.
Odds and Ends
• “Last week, Jeb Bush accidentally said something interesting.” (Vox)
• Ellen Pao on why the trolls are winning the internet. (Washington Post)
• The 2015 College All-Name Team.
Line of the Week
“It’s easier to find a word wanting, rather than ourselves. It’s easy to point out how a word buckles and breaks; it’s harder to notice how we do. ‘Privilege’ was a ladder of a word that wanted to allow us to see a bit further, past our experiences.” – From Parul Sehgal’s New York Times Magazine essay on the meaning of privilege.