Is it just me?

Or is this a bit messed up?

Brooklyn brewhaha: Babies in bars

Does it actually need to be said that there should be adult spaces and kid spaces? Adult behaviors and kid behaviors? I sympathize with the stir-crazy guy, but that's life. You wanted a kid (I hope), you deal with the consequences. I have no problem bringing a kid out to a more adult-oriented space, but a bar is not my idea of the right spot.

If I think there's something wrong with the mindset of people, it's the inability to draw lines of appropriate and inappropriate behavior. I don't honestly think children should be exposed to alcohol at a young age (beyond ritual alcohol like communion wine), and not as part of the social experience. I also think grownups have a right to spaces that don't involve kids.

Sometimes I just don't understand the world.

This is wrong

on so, so many levels:

Santa Dreidel

I understand there are many intermarried people, but the whole point of the Chanukah story was the defeat of another faith (OK, pagans, but you get the point) by the Jews who refused to surrender their God.

I guess hip kitsch offends me when they start messing with my faith.

There's an old line

about not knowing what art is. I'm fairly certain this is not it:

iBum chair automatically photocopies your butt

I'm with the author - it's not much fun if they schedule it, and the artist needs a life.

For all you Southern types

I present, without comment:

http://www.redneckbank.com/

The sad part

is I had a good idea for a blogpost yesterday, but heck if I can remember what it was.

So?

Headline in Newsday the other day:

Lawsuit: My husband's brain is missing

All around the world I can hear billions of wives saying "Yeah? Join the club, sister."

I have a question

about this photo:

Swiss daredevil Yves Rossy...

The caption reads:

Swiss daredevil Yves Rossy, seen here flying in May 2008, will attempt to cross the English Channel next week, propelled by a jet-powered wing strapped to his back, an aide said.

Since when do daredevils need Aides? This whole seat-of-the-pants thing has gotten more corporate than I ever expected.

Your Mainstream Media

finding that crucial hidden demographic:



100-year-old Americans see election 2008 as historic



Shall we call this Gen Willard Scott?

Ingenuity

and possibly too much vodka/tequila/you name it leads to this:



Chess boxers slug it out in the ring



I can only imagine that hockey chamber music or smash mouth watercolors are not far behind.

Environmentalism has Officially Jumped the Shark

How do I know? Viz. the following, courtesy of LiveScience via Yahoo:



Environmentally Friendly Bombs Planned



I grant you that toxic chemicals are, well, toxic, and we're trying to save the planet. But if there was ever anything unfriendly for its environment, wouldn't most of us say a bomb would be example #2 (following AlGore himself, naturally)?



I know there are non-deadly reasons people use explosives. But let's face facts - the reason most of this stuff is out there is to make really, really big booms that eliminate whatever (or whoever) was standing there before. Leaving dust, debris, and destruction behind. Most employers of this technology aren't really all that concerned about a coupla liters of toxic byproduct.



Which raises to me the likely ironic aftereffect of enviro-safe bombs. How long before Hamas or Al-Qaida steps up to a microphone somewhere and piously declares that as Islam is fundamentally committed to saving the planet, all homicide bombers (excuse me - freedom fighters) on their way to "convert" buses full of schoolchildren and shopkeepers will now switch to the kinder, gentler IEDs and strapped-on explosives.



Greening the Ethnic Cleaning, indeed.

Yuck

Cleaning out the garage is a reasonable activity for mother's day. Stuff to toss, a little organizing, right?



Let me say that the unexpected object I had to remove from a double stroller (which we had just offered to the expectant couple across the street, BTW) put a severe damper on the joy of a neat garage.



That object would be a late, former member of the family Sciuridae. The disgusting remains had damaged the stroller, so I had to Indian Give (can I still use that term?) and set aside the conveyance for conveyance to a garbage dump.



I remain extremely creeped out by the experience.

I know

it's bloody late, but I played hockey so I'm still up. Anyway, some positive developments today regarding opportunities available. Means nothing until it means something, but there's some hope and that's a good thing.



Incidentally, on a completely unrelated note, strange things happen when you mistype things. Should you happen to type "skinnydan.blogpsot.com" (note the transposed letters) you end up at something referred to as a "mega site of Bible studies and information."



It also suggests (not that I read very carefully) that my lack of faith in Jesus is likely to doom me to eternal damnation or some such overly warm final embrace.



Strange place this internets, and odd that anyone would waste the time to squat on a variation of this useless drivel center. Still, I suppose it keeps them occupied in between doses of medication.

Oh Dear

This leaves a bit to live up to. All you riffraff will have to go read something more appropriate for your education level.

Every time

you think you've seen it all, here comes more silliness:



Glamorous politician wants law to allow 7-year itch



Leaving aside that I don't find a fifty year old, twice divorced libertine to be glamorous, these are the kinds of crazy things that come out of people's mouths when they're interested in attention more than substance. I don't know if she's serious about marriages only legally lasting seven years. I don't much care if she is. Clearly, though, there are a lot of nutballs in the world, and unfortunately too many of them get elected.



I don't suppose we could institute a seven-year lifespan on politicians, could we?

Laugh of the Day

Dan Rather sues CBS, Viacom for $70M



Ole' Dan thinks he got the shaft from CBS for their "intentional mishandling" of the aftermath of the story he chose to run, despite the holes in it the size of a National Guard jet.



What's the Frequency, Kenneth, indeed.

Don't you Hate When that Happens?

Study: Wrong fish used to save species



You're all set with a 5/8" fish, and it turns out you needed the 1/2".

Well that's peculiar

The appearance of the word "crap" is apparently no longer damaging to young ears.



As a Noble Captain once said, "Damme, that's too bad."

Now, I like

Harry Potter as much as the next Muggle. I just finished rereading the first six books in anticipation of the last book in the series (though I have to wait until probably early next week for our British edition to show up). But this is a bit much:



U.S. college students seek the magic of Quidditch



I guess there are stupider ways for college students to entertain themselves, but is this really why these folks are spending upwards of $30 grand a year? I like geeks well enough, but can't they just go out and play an actual sport?



I can only imagine it's a short time before the "Co-ed, Naked Quidditch" t-shirts and sweats start appearing on campus.

Oy I'm Tired

I've been going to sleep too late, I'm busy at work, and I think my life is out of control. Blogging has taken a backseat to trying to remember what I was supposed to be doing. There are any number of balls in the air, and while nobody's life is at stake, I'm having a hard time keeping everything straight.



Boohoo. Poor me.



To make up for it, below the fold you will see several fun Pesach-related news items, the last two are courtesy of my friend Stupid.



The first apparently puts to rest a story that was floating around here:



Kosher l’Pesach Gasoline?



There were rumors around here about that, and it sounded so bizarrely ridiculous that I was prepared to believe somebody actually wanted to remove the ethanol from gas to make it kosher for Pesach. Kitniyot may be owned on Pesach, and I believe you can benefit from it, so it struck just the right tone of a crazy Hebrew who wanted to be holier than the rest of us. I'm almost disappointed that it's fake.



Next, some genuine craziness from Genuinely Crazy Jews:



NY bus converted into oven for matzos



Leave it to some nutty chasid from Monsey to decide that a flaming school bus 10 feet from the house with an illegally tapped gas line was a good idea. Think of it as the Partridge Family with peyos, unleavened bread, and a complete disregard for safety and building codes.



And finally, thanks to the Israeli Chronic Lobby, we get this one:



Israel group nixes pot on Passover



Once again the specter of Kitniyot appears. Loosely translated as legumes, this is essentially an Eastern European minhag that is meant by non-fried people to refer to corn, beans, peanuts, and various other foodstuffs. These items are, again, not forbidden for ownership during Pesach by halacha, and I guess one can argue about benefiting from it.



So I guess the only thing to take from this is that Pot is essentially acceptable to those who eat Kitniyot during Pesach, and that one should be extremely careful during attacks of the munchies to eat only kosher L'Pesach certified snacks.



We report, you decide.

Thursday Three - How weird

Weird is my specialty, so I really ought to play. And it's even still Thursday!

1) Do you have any peculiar rules about the foods you eat? Not stuff like religious dietary restrictions, but stuff like having to have the crusts cut off your PB&J sandwiches, not having the peas touching the carrots, having to eat foods in a particular order--stuff like that.

I'm glad you clarified - my life is full of religious dietary restrictions. I wasn't even going to play today until Sarah's post mentioned mushrooms. Which reminds me that I posted a while back that I may be the only person on the planet who loves mushroom barley soup, but won't eat the mushrooms. Tomatoes remain the devil's fruit as far as I'm concerned, though I eat more tomato products than I used to.

2) What about your personal grooming? Do you have a particular way of brushing your teeth? Do you have to always put on your left sock and shoe, then the right? Tell us please!

There is actually a Jewish way of putting on shoes which I've forgotten - something about right foot first, then left, then tie the left, then tie the right. I don't follow it personally, so I may have it wrong. On the grooming end, for whatever reason I always shave my neck first, then chin, then right side, then left. I don't know if it's weird, but it is my routine.

3) Have you ever embarrassed yourself with the public display of any of your peculiar habits? Details appreciated, of course!

Not that I can think of. I have made a spectacle of myself during shaving on a few occasions. There are a few periods of mourning for Jews (including the Three Weeks I have talked about before) when men don't shave if possible. Work rules mean I do shave now during them, but in ages past when I had no job I would let my facial hair grow. At the end of those periods, I used to shave different sorts of ways and go show my mother (and at least one girlfriend, as I recall) the results. Mutton Chops, goatees, one half of my face at a time. I found it amusing to demonstrate my temporary facial coiffures, but I don't know if they did.

UPDATE: And I just remembered - I cannot stand the feel of frosted glass. A number of people I know have these little cups they serve out the kiddush wine in on shabbos that are made from frosted glass. Just the thought of it gives me the heeby-jeebies, like fingernails on a blackboard. Matter of fact, just last week at lunch I switched drinking glasses with one of the kids because I had gotten one that was frosted. Nobody said anything, so either they just let it pass or I snuck it in under their notice.