T3 - It's getting dark out earlier

Ah, the fall. And the T3 changes colors as the seasons move along:

1. Do you have any food or plant allergies that kick in this time of year?

No allergies of any kind, happily. Our neighbor's kid is allergic to everything all year long (or so it seems) and I'm grateful we seem to have escaped it.

2. Is there anything in the food or plant realm that you might not be allergic to, but that you dread seeing during the fall anyway?

Politicians. Most of them have the mental capacity of plants, and it always gets worse this time of year.

3. Setting aside your discomfort for just a moment, what are some of your favorite fall things?

Believe it or not, cooler weather. I enjoy crisp weather with a chill in the air, though it's a very thin line between "crisp" and "$#%@ it's cold." And hot chocolate, which I enjoy year-round, becomes more socially acceptable.

More on Kerry

[This started out as a comment to Terry's long post on the subject, but I think it's just gotten too big.]

I find it very instructive to judge people by who they consider important, or worthy of admiration, or who they want to model themselves after. The yokel who considers white trash pop stars as examples; the thug wannabe idolizing the rap stars; the hollywood groupies enraptured by a heartthrob or babe of the week - at best these people lose my respect, and at worst I have contempt for them. You have to set your sights higher, on the kinds of people that represent the best in human action and behavior, not the lowest & most meaningless we have to offer.

So what to make of a political party and its supporters that thinks a man like Kerry deserves the highest office in the nation? That a man that can casually insult the most honorable members of our citizenry (not to mention the rest of us who disagree with his politics) should be given the right to decide and direct national policy?

I recognize the reality of Kerry's presence in presidential politics. Many within the party do not idolize Kerry - he appeared at the right time for many to be the best option to win the White House. Most, I suspect, would have chosen a better candidate if they could have. The fact that Kerry is the best they had to offer is frightening - no one serious, with respect for the citizens of this nation and the tasks ahead of us was available to them? There are practical political factors behind Kerry's standing within the party and the left, I grant you. And, naturally, the Bush Hatred Factor contributes mightily to every choice made by the left.

And yet...

There is a noticeable group of people who truly respect this man. And Harry Reid, and Ted Kennedy, and the rest of the lefty "leadership." This is what they idealize. The old saw is "judging a man by the company he keeps." I think one can also judge by the leaders people follow, and the examples they hold up to the rest of us to follow. Needless to say, Kerry is a fool. A wealthy, privileged fool lording over the plebes and promising panem et circenses for all, never mind the higher taxes we shall have to pay to accomodate the circus clowns. A fool without the sense to keep his mouth shut, especially when his foot is zeroing in on his perfectly whitened teeth.

This is what you hold in high esteem? Think carefully, voters, if this ideal matches what you truly respect. What's worse? The fool, or the fools who put him in power?

Oh, this made me laugh

I think "[Kerry] has basically radiated himself with the isotope Asinine-90" is my favorite line.

UPDATE: Oh, Lordy! Goldberg is firing on all cylinders when it comes to Kerry. A later post:

And a fair-minded person might expect him to apologize for any unintended offense. Kerry refused because Kerry has the self-awareness of carpet mold.

So

I'm home today, given that other people in the family have been laid low by some kind of bug or the other. Well, one other person, who made the mistake of checking with WebMD about her condition. The good doc suggested that her aches & other symptoms were signs she was suffering from Neoplastispoziphlebomitisosia. And to find a local practitioner and give him all our money.

So I stayed home to nurse her through her illness. And drive carpool for youngest in about ten minutes.

On a far more salubrious note, I have a Very Important Piece of Advice. Always. ALWAYS. Make friends with the secretaries/Admin assistants. They can make your life outstandingly wonderful, or they can make it a living hell. In my case the former comes true tonight. The CEO's assistant slipped me four seats to a local hockey contest, gratis. And the good seats, not the nosebleeds. (I did drop a hint about getting the skybox, but that is nearly impossible to pull off.)

So, despite the fact that it's an Islanders game, and that they're playing Chicago, I will be sitting front (though not center - the seats are to the right of one of the goals) at the game tonight. We'll have to see if Mrs. will join us - call it a gametime decision.

T3 - OK Pal, where's the fire?

Late questions, and even later answers:

1. Have you ever been stopped by the police for a driving infraction?

Twice - once about two years ago, and once about two months ago.

2. What was the cause?

48 in a 20 (school zone) and the last one was for driving with my lights off. The latter was kinda freaky - I passed a couple of cop cars on my way home from hockey, and I watched my speed. A block or two later, I get the flashing blues in the rearview. So I signal right & pull over. Officer comes up, says "sir, did you know you're driving with no lights?" No, because I had had the Accord about a week, and the dash lights are on all the time. I didn't notice I hadn't turned the outside lights on. He looks in the back seat, sees the hockey sticks & says, "oh, you were playing hockey down at the rink? Well, please drive carefully. We got a call of shots fired, and when you see a car driving with no lights, it often means something's up." I turned the lights on & drove home very carefully.

3. How much was the ticket?

over $100. I just paid it without fighting it.

Optional: Have you ever taken a defensive driving course to mitigate punishment?

Yep - on that one ticket, which is my only one in 18 years of driving. I did take it once before for insurance reasons, where I sat next to a friend working off a ticket for doing 85. Which would be acceptable, except for one detail. He was driving an RV at the time.

Why oh Why

is a lawsuit people's answer for everything? I'm in favor of making websites accessible to all. I understand that making things accessible to blind people is not only nice, but a smart business move.

So what happened to normal advocacy? The story doesn't mention if the guy went to Target and asked them to address the problem. Why not approach the CEO's office and make your case? I've spoken to a number of CEO's offices when I have a problem. More often than not they are quick to respond when you can get them directly, which is easier to do than you think.

I understand the point of the law. I do think the legal profession has occasional benefits to American society. But could we possibly try and find a solution to things without a lawsuit? Just once in a while?

Spam can be fun

Very rarely, but it can be fun. Amidst all the offers to make my member grow to positively Brobdingnagian proportions and the various attractive young women looking for my attention, came this intriguing Subject line:

Salmon Disarming

Now, to be sure, they were promising in fact to make me rich. But the very idea of Oncorhynchus tschawytscha laying down their weapons in the name of global peace strikes me as tremendously funny, and worth getting the useless come-on for.

Add to that a google search leading me to the first page of this article:

Greek and Latin Terms for Salmon and Trout
Alfred C. Andrews
Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association, Vol. 86, 1955 (1955), pp. 308-318
doi:10.2307/283626

and spam is suddenly entertaining.

Blogiversary

I noticed last night that my two year blogiversary passed last Thursday.

I don't think it means anything either, but I thought I'd mention it in passing.

Things that make me Happy

(reg. required. www.bugmenot.com may help.)

I enjoy watching internecine bloodbaths, especially as senior party apparatchiks are part of the stabbing in the back. For those who can't get to the article, The Pravda of Record is under attack by other members of the Politburo. Ted Kennedy is lecturing Arthur Sulzberger because of the gutting of the Boston Globe. How nice is that to watch?

Newspapers are becoming increasingly irrelevant. Sure, the elites of both political stripes read them, but the average person is getting their news elsewhere. Too much can be confirmed or disproven by alternative sources. I don't think they're going away, exactly, but I don't know if they're capable of adapting. Not enough people will pay for stuff on the web to make this work for a lot of these companies, and especially not as people with opposing political views abandon the NY Times and other socialist rags.

The added irony of such a lefty institution being hoist by the petard of capitalism only increases my joy at the infighting.

Spare me

the sanctimonious "we're just reporting the news" crapahoola, please. I refer to this blog entry from one David Doss, producer of Anderson Cooper's show on CNN. It's about their decision to air terrorist-supplied footage of themselves playing sniper and shooting our troops.

Mr. Doss writes "Whether or not you agree with us in this case, our goal, as always, is to present the unvarnished truth as best we can." Your goal, sir, is nothing of the kind. Your goal is ratings. Your goal is to make money and keep your job. I suspect, given the proclivities of the average CNNer, your goal is to take down the Bush administration for being more fascist and jackbooted than anyone ever existing on the planet.

Look, sir, I'm an idiot, but not a fool. Don't waste my time with the idea that "you just want to give it to us straight. The public has a right to know." I've heard it all before. The more titillating the better, and half you jackals would show video of your grandmother being disemboweled if it meant higher ratings. Why not take an hour and go tape American soldiers building schools & roads? Because it doesn't sell, or it doesn't match the prewritten storyline.

As one Joseph Welch, Special Counsel to the Army in the McCarthy trials famously put it, "Have you no sense of decency sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?"

Leaving aside

what I think of piercings and tattoos, more of signs to my mind that people who write news articles are spotting trends that don't really exist. I notice they didn't actually talk to anyone at major financial or corporate firms. Yes, the "quirky PR places" will be happy to have Lydia the Tatooed Lady on staff, but I doubt the boys at Goldman Sachs particularly want to see the yin yang on your left buttock you had tatooed to remind you of that bad place in your life that you rillllly don't want to forget but you've moved past now.

I like watching Miami Ink on TV. It's entertaining, the artwork is beautiful, and it kills an hour. I don't want a tatoo, and if I never see another vapid beach bunny on the show getting a koi fish it will be too soon. I don't really care if there's a lifestyle here - let it be reserved for the models and the painters and the bikers and whoever else.

I'm still convinced that the work environment is the work environment. If you have the kind of job where that sort of thing is unacceptable - you work with clients or investors, you're in a management role - you have to look the part. I don't care what you have on your bum as long as no one sees it at work. I'm simply anticipating the lawsuits by some be-holed, be-speckled employee who wants to know why he didn't make partner. They will be here soon, and they are ridiculous. Here's my free advice. If you want to be taken seriously at a serious job (and no, academia doesn't count), a large tattoo of a half-naked mermaid on the side of your head - no matter how artistically or personally inspiring - is probably not the way to go.

There's a new Curmudgeon

in the world. Go say hi to Peter.

More Guessing!

Know what else I did? I yanked the living ^%$#@ out of a muscle in my sacrum. That would be the buttbone to the uninitiated. The pain is mostly in my hip, as I believe the offended bit of gristle connects hip to pelvis.

I was bending over to clean something off the floor, and with barely a move in the wrong direction I was in a world of pain. I literally had to crawl my way over to my bed and figure out a way to get in it. Which I did eventually, but it was not pleasant.

So no hockey, and not much movement last night. I managed to wedge a heating pad under my butt, and by about 9:30 I was feeling well enough (despite a craptastic finish to the Ranger game on TV) to head downstairs and get some dinner. I called in sick today, but I'm feeling much more human. Changing positions is the biggest problem. Once I'm there it's not awful.

And no, sadly, I did not injure myself in the company of Scarlett Johanssen.

Quiz time!

What incredibly cool thing did I do this week?

Answer will follow later after I get to laugh at all the wacky guesses.

UPDATE: There were comparatively few wacky guesses, which makes me sad. I was hoping at least one person would suggest I went exploring the Polar Arctic with Scarlett Johannsen in a Bikini. (That would be the delectable Ms. J in the bikini, not me. I can't imagine why she'd consider going with me in the bikini.) Mind you, I'd rather actually go anywhere with her in a bikini than just have one of you suggest it, but still, a guy can dream about what his virtual friends will think of for him.

Regardless, I must now spill the beans on my great adventure. I went to ring the opening bell at the NY Stock Exchange earlier in the week. Our local archivists group was tapped quite late one afternoon to come down the next day to ling the berr. Fortunately I saw the email, and I was able to go. I didn't actually hit the button, but I was there on the podium and have the image to prove it.

It was extremely cool. The Board Room at NYSE is humongous - I think my house would fit in it. A good time was had by all, even if I had to do a lot of traveling to get there.

T3 Potpourri

Isn't it time we found a new word for that mixture of odds & ends? "Freedom Mishmash" or something. Regardless:

1) We know none of you are full of vainglory, but everyone has a little something they like to have around to show off as a status symbol. What thing (or things) do you have that you use to signify your high level of couth and culture?

Hmmm. The Honda Accord barely qualifies as a status symbol. Oddly, I always feel more official & important when wearing my work ID badge. It's meaningless, but it says I belong somewhere. Ah, yes, I have it. Cartoon ties.

I have often said "I have class. It's all low, but it's class."

2) What time do you go to bed at night?

Well, I always plan to be in bed by 10. It never happens. 11PM on a good day.


3) What year did you first experience the Internet?

Whoa, dude, what's with the personal questions? 1993 seems the right time. I got my first email account at NYU before there was an actual graphic web interface - I was vaguely able to search for things with Gopher and I have a vague memory of something called Lynx. All text, but you could look for stuff.

My AOL account followed soon after, and I used to hang around a Jewish singles chat room. Never met any women, but there were a few people with a sense of humor there and we used to trade one liners. I think it was a year or so later that I was asked to help build a website for my department, and I got HTML for Dummies, which led to my now vaunted & stellar career as a quasi-web guy.

Fun with Headlines

University instructor likens Bush to Hitler

In other breaking news, the Sun will rise in the East this morning, and the Sky is, in fact, blue.

Updates as events warrant.

Here's something

worth reading if you're interested in the difference between Jews & Christians. I certainly am, but I'd never thought about this particularly until someone at the Corner posted this today.

At its heart, the article argues that in Christianity all is forgiveable, and probably should be forgiven. Judaism, on the other hand, believes that there are things out there and people who commit them that are beyond forgiveness. To paraphrase him, Christianity argues "forgive them for they know not what they do," and Judaism argues "forgive them not, for they know full well what they do."

Anyway, read the whole thing.

I finally have time

for a T3. Thus, this week's everyone's-favorite-escaping-the-nazis-with-a-nun inspired set of questions:

1) What is your favorite color? (Yeah, I know it’s an easy one, but they get a LOT harder.)

Red. No Blue! AAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!

Okay, now you can start humming the song.

2) Of all the items on the following list:

Raindrops on roses
Whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles
Warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
Cream colored ponies
Crisp apple strudels
Doorbells
Sleigh bells
Schnitzel with noodles
Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings
Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes
Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eye lashes
Silver white winters that melt into spring

Which item is your favorite, AND, which item is your LEAST favorite? (See, told you it gets a lot harder!)

You have to ask? Girls in White Dresses, all the way. Least favorite? Wild Geese, moon or no moon. The Canadian Geese around here are loud, brash, and leave far too much of their output around for my tastes. Shove off, eh? Hosers.

And finally,

3) What are three of your favorite memories from childhood?

1) Grampa Abe & the roller skates. To the best of my memory, I am the only grandchild to actually get Grampa to take me to Toys R Us and buy an actual present - two as I recall. A set of roller skates and a large scale model of a Rolls Royce (I forget the name of the Italian toy company that made them.) Grampa was good about gifts, but predictable - the same number of dollars as your age, and a birthday card with happy birthday in about 7 different languages, laid out as neat & straight as a pin. Maybe there's a blogpost in here about Grampa.

2) Ghosts & Goblins. A variant on cops & robbers, but I can still sense the late twilight, the smell of summer, and running up & down the block with the neighborhood kids.

3) The girl. The first crush, back in second grade. Lord, she was cute. I have no idea what I thought I wanted from her, but she was the ONE. I've completely lost track of her - last I knew she was living in Israel.

There you have it. I can only presume next week will be equally inspired - favorite Great Escape moments or something.

This is news?

Some dopey bunch of terrorist wannabes post a video and the AP thinks this is news? YouTube has thousands of videos - perhaps a press onslaught is in order to announce someone else has posted clips from old Dr. Who episodes?

Go out and get a real job, would you?

I got sent

this article yesterday by a superior. I'm not sure what to make of it, or if said superior thinks we're supposed to work that way too. While I can appreciate the unique approach Google has taken to business, I'm not sure chaos is a strong platform to build a successful enterprise on.

Nimble & inventive is fine, but it's a long way down off the highwire.

America's evil plot

against Islam continues. If we cannot defeat them militarily, we'll increase their cholesterol. I can only imagine the screaming about torture coming from the great unhinged. And in the meantime, our own citizen soldiers are making do on MREs and food packages from home.

Remind me again which side is the captured terrorists and which are the free citizens of the greatest nation on earth?

And to answer

Jim's question, the season begins this coming Thursday, October 5th. The Rangers open at home against Alex Ovechkin and the assorted scrubs calling themselves the Washington Capitals. It's a pity, but typical, for a great player like Ovechkin to spend a lot of his early years surrounded by a terrible club - lousy team = high draft pick, after all. If there's some patience and shrewdness in Caps management, they'll build him something to work with before he gets fed up and demands a trade.

I expect Jim's Cup-champion 'Canes are in for the usual post-Cup hangover. They also lost some key character guys, so we'll see about their chances of a repeat. I'd expect them to be competitive and make the playoffs easily, but I don't think they'll pull it off again. I don't see the kind of strength to them that previous dynasties had - Detroit, the Devils, etc.

My beloved Rangers are probably in for a rougher road this season. They surprised a lot of people last year, and I think other teams will be geared up more for them this season. Everything hinges on Jagr and Henrik Lundqvist - as they go, so go the Rangers. If Jagr's shoulder is not up to snuff, their already worrisome Power Play is in deep trouble. My guess for them is a 5-6th place spot in the playoffs (i.e. 2nd in their division), and I expect a much better playoff performance from them this year.

Consider this my NHL Season Preview.

I am back

and much better fed & watered than yesterday. I would like to say Yom Kippur was filled with the awe & dignity it deserved, and largely it was. As always my concentration was not exactly where I wanted it, but as usual I did my best.

G'mar Chatima Tovah, all.

Worth reading,

as Ajami usually is on Islam issues. One guy at least who understands the real mentality of the Arab world.

Fun with Headlines

How easy can they make these? A nice fat one down the middle of the plate:

Georgia accuses 4 Russians of spying

What do you suppose they were spying on? The Coke museum? Peach Production? Silly peanut farmers? Surely not the UGA Cheerleaders page, which is sadly underpictured?

Grandpa John

passed away last week. He was Mrs. Skinny's grandfather, and a decent, honest, bighearted man. I had the privelege of meeting him several times, and it was fewer than it should have been. It's hard and expensive to travel to the west coast, there's no kosher food where he lived, etc., etc. As usual in these cases, you wish you had done things differently despite the effort involved.

John was a WWII vet, as I recall, and worked for Lockheed for many, many years. He was an inveterate record collector, stopping at all the yard sales to pick up more, whatever they were. He gave Mrs. Beatles records years ago - he never listened to them, but he had them. He was a fine singer, and fond of the Gilbert & Sullivan operas that Mrs. & I like so much - he played Ralph Rackstraw in Pinafore on a number of occasions. My dad met him on a trip out there a few years back, and the two musicians hit it off very well.

I'm glad he got to meet both of our kids, and we will certainly tell them about this wonderful man. Mrs. has gone out west for the memorial service, and, the rest of us are with her in spirit.

He was a terrific guy, and we will all miss him.

I should keep my mouth

firmly shut. Literally, and especially after making fun at Terry's expense about Southerners with no teeth. Saturday night, while chewing on a piece of Chalah (quite soft, delicious, and with chocolate chips, courtesy of Mrs. Skinny) I had a crown fall out. I was pretty annoyed since I had the root canal & the crown put in no more than a year and a half ago.

So I spent the last three days not at all ignoring the gaping hole in my mouth. It's extremely annoying to have that gap there and not think about it, which is why I failed miserably. I finally got the thing popped back in about an hour and a half ago, for which I am extremely grateful.

Unlike Terry, however, I did not take pictures. You'll have to manage without.

I haven't the patience

to read all of this drivel from the president of one of my Alma Maters. (Alma Matera? My latin still needs work.) I get the impression it's an impassioned defense of the University as institution, a bulwark against the tide of barbarism surrounding it. Which isn't too far off the mark in NYU's case, given the local population.

I don't expect much else from a University President, and as I say I can't be bothered to read the whole thing. Maybe he's talking about a new strain of genetically modified potatoes, I dunno. But a few things did catch my eye. He writes:

The Internet is a revolutionary tool, which provides the newest basis for such a belief; however, it works not only for but also (and less obviously) against the ideal of an informed and intellectually curious public. It does enable the previously passive and powerless to become actors and interactors in the unfolding drama of public discourse and politics; but, even as it empowers and informs vast numbers of citizens, it also is a tool for misinformation and false attacks, polluting the dialogue with an apparent “knowledge” base undisciplined by traditional standards of accuracy in public communication. Bloggers are their own editors and many make little effort to verify what they post.

Traditional standards of accuracy in public communication? I don't think he understands that a lot of the public now believes there are no longer any standards of accuracy. Memogate was just the most obvious recent example of the loss of those standards. Half the news stories we read in the MSM are from "unnamed sources", when a half an effort would reveal that those sources are utterly wrong.

A second item, along the same lines:

As an information surplus develops, the absence of accountability combines with an absence of formal checks to make it possible for pseudofacts to spread like wildfire. This presents even the intelligent and the rigorous with a serious sorting problem. One unsurprising response to this barrage of undifferentiated information is a kind of nihilism about knowledge which leads almost inexorably to an equation of fact and opinion and the reduction of argumentation to assertion. Paradoxically, this trend breeds and feeds a version of unreflective dogmatism.

I like the term "pseudofacts", but I think the good Prexy needs to examine his own institution for the very same malady. "Unreflective dogmatism" was an issue in my own schooling close to fifteen years ago - it's only gotten worse. Nihilism regarding information is, to my mind, a direct result of the increasing nihilism of society in general, spurred by the left and his own beloved academia's belief that there is no truth. Or that truth exists in the mind of the beholder.

Perhaps this is a brilliant essay, but Sexon's arguments in these two cases strike me as the usual bleat of the elitist uncomfortable with the free market of ideas. It's too easy for them to taken apart by rubes like me.

Hey folks?

Lighten up, willya? Considering the sort of things us Hebrews have to put up with, I don't really think you have any business getting offended.

I don't normally

participate in these sorts of things, but this one seemed too good to pass up:

The Dante's Inferno Test has sent you to Purgatory!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:

Level	Score
Purgatory (Repenting Believers)	Very High
Level 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers)	Low
Level 2 (Lustful)	Moderate
Level 3 (Gluttonous)	Low
Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious)	Moderate
Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy)	High
Level 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics)	Very Low
Level 7 (Violent)	Moderate
Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers)	Moderate
Level 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous)	Very Low

Take the Dante's Inferno Hell Test

Your fate has been decided....
You are one of the lucky ones! Because of your virtue and beliefs, you have escaped eternal punishment. You are sent to Purgatory!

Purgatory

You have escaped damnation and made it to Purgatory, a place where the dew of repentance washes off the stain of sin and girds the spirit with humility. Through contrition, confession, and satisfaction by works of righteousness, you must make your way up the mountain. As the sins are cleansed from your soul, you will be illuminated by the Sun of Divine Grace, and you will join other souls, smiling and happy, upon the summit of this mountain. Before long you will know the joys of Paradise as you ascend to the ethereal realm of Heaven.

Well, that's one less thing to worry about.

Want something fun?

New York City Subway Maps from the 1880s to the present. I looked back at some from the 70s, and I had forgotten how much the routes have changed - some of the trains I used to take now follow completely different paths.

AVAST AND BELAY YE!

For sure, t'isn't it Talk Like a Pirate Day, ye bilge rat and barnacle scraper!



Hoist your main sail or be scuppered, ye scurvy dog!

One other

political note. I had the misfortune to hear George Stephanopolous on Imus this morning. I'd love to know how so many smart people can be this dumb. He repeated the same stupid old story the liberals have been touting for the last year or more. "We have to give these captured Al Qaeda types the protection of the Geneva Conventions. The US cannot ignore a treaty that the rest of the world holds to. Why do we think we have a right to act unilaterally and illegally?"

Look, stupid, I'll say this once more, on top of everyone smarter than me who's said it. The Geneva Conventions DO NOT APPLY to nonuniformed, non-governmental troops. I cannot cite you chapter & verse, but you're a smart boy - look it up. The Conventions are meant to protect NATIONAL troops, in UNIFORM, of SIGNATORY PARTIES to the Conventions.

Al Qaeda is not a Nation.
It did not sign the Conventions.
Its members do not wear uniforms.

By definition, they have no rights under the Conventions. I believe the treaty is also supposed to apply only in times of war - are you admitting now that we're at war with Al Qaeda? Or do you want to stick to the script that this is all our fault?

The Conventions assumed we were in a typical war with other sovereign nations. We wanted to assure humane treatment for captured prisoners, on the assumption that each side would want safe treatment (within reason) for their citizens. Marquess of Queensbury rules for nations, if you will. But Al Qaeda fights dirty, and they fight to the death, and they're not looking for some level of accomodation. By the very law you knuckleheads keep quoting, we owe them nothing. Please stop pretending you don't understand this.

It appears

the Muslim community wants another, bigger apology. (See here if you can stomach AP stupidity on the subject.)

I'm going to presume to respond for the Pope, with the response I think he should deliver. As we would say in New York, "Apologize this, Abdul." (With appropriate hand gestures.) I don't care what they think, and I don't think the Bishop of Rome should care either. In the first place, no more than five people on the Muslim street had ever heard of Manuel II Paleologus; and I'd be surprised at this point if the number has reached 50. I'm aware of him as a former medievalist, but since I confuse the Byzantine emperors routinely (well, as often as it comes up, anyway) I couldn't have told you beforehand if he was in 9th or the 14th century. The average member of the Religion of Peace (as Mel Brooks as Hitler put it in "To Be or Not to Be: "All I want is a little peace! A little piece of Poland, a little piece of France...") hasn't the faintest idea what the Pope said, or why old Manny knew what he was talking about.

In the second place, Benny has a point - these people want to kill us, and it's pointless to pretend otherwise. We need to be careful of offending these nutballs? How about an apology for the 3,000 dead civilians of 9/11? How about a nice, loud, "Al Qaeda is not Islam" from an Imam or three? Never happen, right? You know why? Because they're not sorry. They like jihad. They want a world without Christians, Jews, Buddhists, and probably half the Muslims (depending on their own orientation.) It's hard to satisfy people who want you dead.

So why bother apologizing? Apologize for existing? No thanks. What are you going to do now, try & kill us? What? We're putting ourselves more at risk than we were before? The Yahoo link above had a sidebar that Al Qaeda is planning more attacks because of the Pope. So if he hadn't mentioned an obscure Byzantine Emperor the whackos would be sitting nicely and offering us peace & love? Somehow I don't buy it.

So here's my fantasy version of Benedict's apology. He stands in St. Peter's Square, and says "If there are Muslims out there who are offended and want an apology, they can bend over and kiss my holy, white robed tuchus. I'll apologize when you quit murdering Christians, Jews, and anyone else that gets your panties twisted."

Think it'll happen?

I can't tell you

if this story actually means anything about a revival of Jewish life in Europe. So much of European Jewry was destroyed half a century ago, and our best efforts have not really revived the depth and breadth of Jewish life that once was. There are also many, many more Muslims in Europe, and whatever they may say publicly, the Jewish people have (for all intents & purposes) few friends amongst the Muslims of the world.

But ordaining Rabbis in Germany is proof of one concept: Am Yisrael Chai - The Nation of Israel Lives. Kill us, torture us, assimilate us - do your worst. We shall not pass from the face of the earth, and we will in fact outlive anything you can throw at us. Mazal Tov to the graduates, and I'm sure they will be hearing from the Alumni Association shortly.

What day is it again?

Ah yes, Thursday. Time for the Thursday Three, that fine example of critical time-wasting skills. Today's set:

1) What are three new books that you’ve read recently?

The first is Sweet and Low, the story of (duh!) Sweet & Low sweetener. It's a terrific read, chronicling the truly bizarre actions of the family behind those pink packets. The author is actually a grandson of the founder.

Next, I recently read American Gunfight about the plot to assassinate Harry Truman hatched by members of a Puerto Rican independence movement. A fascinating story about something I'd never heard of, which I found slightly marred by Hunter's focus on the firearms involved. I don't mind that he's interested in them, but it's a bit more noticeable than I would want.

The last is my current read, Borscht Belt Bungalows, on the life and culture of New York Jews in the Bungalow Colonies of the lower Catskill Mountains in Sullivan County. I went to camp up there, and my dad got his start in the music business up there, so I have some personal connection to the area. Although this story is not my experience, exactly.

2) What three new products have you tried lately and what were your experiences?

I tried the 2003 Honda Accord. My experiences have been quite positive, but you can read about that elsewhere on here. I've worked on something called Windows Media Server, and while I don't know how it stacks up against other streaming media tools, it seems to do what I need, so I can live with it either way. I've watched other people play on a Microsoft product called SharePoint, which I am hoping to get my mitts on soon to play with.

3) What are three new movies or shows or plays or whatever that you have seen lately, or would like to go see soon?

Movie? Play? I'm barely allowed out of the house. We did just get notified of the next season of the local Gilbert & Sullivan troop, and they're doing something called the Rose of Persia which I'd like to see. I would also like to get to Cars at some point, but I suspect that's going on my Netflix list instead. And I have Narnia on my Netflix list for the future, so I guess that's it.

I spent today

locked in a room with a buncha work people and a few folks from Microsoft. With no Windows. (get it? Windows?) It was a largely useful conversation about some projects we have coming up, but it was kind of a long day. I've forgotten what a cattle call commuting into Manhattan can be, which didn't help much.

On the plus side, when you go to these kinds of things they do take a certain amount of care of you. Free drinks and food, replenished often throughout the day. I actually got lunch from them, but decided I was too close to the kosher falafel cart to pass it up, even though there was a free kosher turkey sandwich arranged for me. I used to work a few blocks from where I was today, so I know most of what's in the neighborhood. I even got a freebie travel mug in the deal, and I love tchotchkes.

I get to repeat the whole thing again tomorrow, so I expect to fully loathe commuting in by tomorrow AM at the latest. On a positive note, the late meeting I was supposed to go to on Thursday has been cancelled, so I'm off the hook for one thing this week, anyway.

Michael Edward McHugh, Jr.

is probably not a name you've ever heard of. I hadn't either until a few weeks ago, when he was assigned to me as part of the 2996 Project, where bloggers around the world and the country are acknowledging each of the victims of September 11th.

So how do you capture the essence of a man you've never met? How can you possibly pay tribute to a total stranger? What on earth makes a guy like me, with no immediate losses on that terrible day, qualified to memorialize an innocent murder victim. Nothing does, and yet I still have to try.

There is one thing I think he and I have in common, aside from being New Yorkers living in the suburbs around New York City. We are both ordinary people - regular guys leading regular lives. Don't get me wrong - I'm sure Mr. McHugh was an extraordinary man to those who knew him - but there was nothing out of the everyday that you can't find all across America. He went to work, did his job, spent time with his family, got active in local politics - the picture of a decent ordinary citizen pursuing the totality of his life's work to the best of his ability.

And yet. And yet.

He was extraordinary in every way to the people who knew him and loved him. Brilliant or not, handsome or not, generous or not, he was the one and the only him, and no one could have been a better Michael Edward McHugh Jr. than he was. So who was Michael Edward McHugh, Jr? I couldn't tell you the first thing about the inner person, but here are some things I've gathered over the internet:

He was a husband to Maria Cermele McHugh;
He was a father to Michael III, Christian, and Connor McHugh
He was a son to Eileen and Michael McHugh
He was a brother to Darby McHugh and John McHugh
He was an energy trader for Trade Spark, a Division of Cantor Fitzgerald
He was a Village Trustee in Tuckahoe, NY
He was campaigning for a seat on the Westchester County Board of Legislators

So there you have the bare facts. But what of the depth? What of the life the man led? How to capture such things? Did he like football or baseball? Pepperoni on his pizza or peppers and onions? By the tributes on his Legacy. com page, I get the sense that he was the kind of guy all of us know in one way or another. A decent, hardworking guy who roughhoused with his kids and did what he could to make his corner of the universe a better place to be. A real man's man - not the overhyped blowhard type - but the guy who takes his responsibilities seriously and does what he needs to get the job done.

And what of Michael Edward McHugh, Jr.? What happened to that man's man? His life was cut short by the lowest scum of humanity. Evil, twisted subhumans who considered violent death for themselves and others to be a blessed event. Who decided that others had no right to live based on their faith, their nationality, or some other meaningless, invented designation. Michael McHugh had a right to live. He had a right to pursue his own dreams and success without the murderous bastards cutting those dreams short. He had a right to grow old with his wife. He had a right to see his boys grow up and become men. He had a right to see future generations born and grow. And all that lost because some nutcase had a deathwish.

Let us grieve for Michael. Let us remember his passing with sorrow, for all that he was and all that might have been. Let us recall his life and the joy he gave the world, and the benefit his existence was to the rest of us whether we knew him or not. We have arrived, as we did on that terrible day five years ago, on the cusp of the High Holy Days of the Jewish calendar. Rosh Hashana of 5762 arrived exactly a week after 9/11, and I can recall praying extremely hard that year for God to have mercy on us all. These days, even five years past, remain an opportunity to beg God for mercy for ourselves and the world around us.

We pray for life and health, and the Unesaneh Tokef prayer explains that on Rosh Hashana God decides who will live and who will die in the upcoming year. We none of us knew the previous year that so many would perish so close to the Days of Awe that followed. Michael McHugh did not know, and we must trust that God had a need for Michael greater than ours. That sounds terribly trite, but it is our responsibility to try and make sense of God's decisions, and take what lessons and solace from them we can.

There is no possible way my pointless blog can bring comfort to his family and friends that knew him. Trying is almost meaningless, but I had to give it my best shot. If any of his family happens to read this, I have done the best I could, and I hope you accept it in the spirit in which it is meant. I would comfort you if I could, and I grieve for your loss.

Michael, I wish you Godspeed wherever you have gone. May God bless you and yours, keep them safe from harm and grant them peace. Your sacrifice and martyrdom have not been forgotten, and your legacy will live on in the lives you touched all to briefly on this earth. May your memory be a blessing to all.

Michael Edward McHugh, Jr.

ca. 1966-September 11^th, 2001

Now isn't

a coronary just the way you want to go into Shabbos? Me neither, but I didn't get the choice.

Oldest is now old enough to take the bus to school. Yesterday was day one, and the bus was 40 minutes late. OK, it's the first day. Probably about the same amount late on the way home. Again, it's the first day. This morning, the bus is about 20 minutes late, so we're doing better. But the trip home. Ah, the trip home.

The bus shows up, neighbor gets off the bus, other neighbor, and her older brother (about 13) who says "did oldest get another ride home?" Uh, no. No sign of my child. Freak out time has now arrived. I call the school. No answer. I leave a message at the principal's home. No answer. I call the bus company "we're not allowed to contact the drivers while they're on the road."

Great. A lost child, and we have protocol to worry about.

I call the school district, more than half frantic, and the woman says "hang on". While I'm on hold, another bus shows up with my kid on it. Huge sigh of relief, but still very upset and frankly pissed off. She's very upset, and explains that the end of school was very crowded, she couldn't understand what they were saying, and she ended up on the wrong bus. Fortunately she was with some friends, and on a bus that comes to our town, but scared and miserable.

So she's in PJs and watching TV, and I'm composing oratory to use on the school officials when I go see them on Monday. I appreciate that it's the first few days, and there are a lot of kids and confusion, but you damn well better be sure that a five year old ends up on the correct bus going home.

Somebody's getting an earful on Monday.

So

the Mrs. is actually down South, Atlanta way, on some conference or the other as she starts the long road to becoming a certified lactation consultant.* Meaning I am left home with the kiddles. Alone. This on top of the onslaught of relatives over the weekend just past explains my lack of activity (sister in law on Thursday, in-laws on Monday, parents came for dinner with in-laws on Monday [excellent grilled turkey breast, I might point out], inlaws to the airport tuesday with rental car thankfully, wife to airport Tuesday, my dad with the kids while wife taken to airport) blogwise.

It's not as bad as it sounds, largely because oldest starts school tomorrow and thus I am down to one as of about 7:30 AM tomorrow. So today I took oldest for her annual lice check at school, dropped off some of her supplies at her locker (yes, I was surprised that first graders get lockers, but they're not locked, so it's basically a cubby with a door), and then took the kids to a local science museum. It wasn't the best I've seen, but they were entertained and that was fine. We got ice cream on the way home, and I have to say I may be getting too old to eat an entire Carvel butterscotch sundae at one sitting.

I have no big plans with youngest beyond taking her to meet her teachers tomorrow, which will kill exactly 1/2 an hour. We've been invited out for both shabbat meals, so I may dedicate part of tomorrow to baking cookies with her. This will keep her busy, and give us something to bring to our various meals. Gingersnaps sounds appealing to me - simple enough & fun to make, without the noodgy part of shape cookies. My dad is supposed to come out again tomorrow so I can go play hockey at night, so that may distract youngest as well.

Posting may be light until next week.

*I should note that the idea of looking at women's chests, and getting paid for it, sounds too good to be true. And, in fact, it is.

Why

pray tell, am I still up? Hockey's over, and I'm goofing on the computer.

I think I should have a bowl of oatmeal and go to bed.

And now...

the anticlimactic answer to the question one of you is desperately bored enough to wonder about if nothing else is pressing on you. Like the need to floss, which would be far more entertaining than...

MORONITUDE REVEALED!!!

[please hum suitably dramatic music]

This [representative image only] has been replaced by this.["]

Yes, I have pulled the trigger on my longstanding desire to replace my 1996 Civic with a newer car. Moronic because there wasn't really anything wrong with the Civic. The engine ran fine, I wasn't having any major issues with the car, and we owned it outright. It was, in fact, bought with cash, back when we had such things available to us.

But (and I may have talked about this before) I was tired of the car. It had next to no pickup, to the point where I routinely turned off the AC if I wanted to accelerate onto the highway. It should be noted that unlike some other places, onramps in the NY metro area are somewhat shorter than elsewhere. The average entrance ramp is somewhere between the length of a ruler and that of a yardstick. No pickup is thus something of an issue. And the car was ten years old, and we've had it for 7 of those ten years.

So the question came down to this. Was I prepared to live with this car, with only 94,000 miles on it, and drive it until it died? Or did I want to trade it for something I was happier with while there was still some resale value? Trade full ownership for car payments? Spend money or don't?

Obviously, the moron side of my brain won out. I didn't need to spend money, the Civic worked, all I really need is a commuter car, and I did it anyway. I'm still torn about the choice I made because I'm cheap. I didn't have a love affair with the Civic, after less than a day with it I'm happy with the Accord, so this wasn't an emotional decision about the car. But I HATE, I repeat, HATE spending money. I come from a long line of cheap SOBs. And yet I pulled the trigger anyway.

The buying itself was fairly straightforward. I've been talking with Mrs. about this for a while, so we just decided last week we'd go looking this past Sunday. So we head off to one dealer, and the guy just acts like he can't be bothered to talk to us. He hands us a shopping list of what they have, says "what do you want to see", he can't find the keys to the one we're interested in, and I said "just pull something around so we can try it." One dopey around the block test drive, and we say "we'll let you know."

On to the next, which is the same dealer we got Mrs.' car from four years ago. She suggested I try the new Civic just to see - the engine's bigger, and maybe for the same price I can have a new car, not a used one. So we get a salesperson (skinny, attractive, not very talkative or salesmanlike) and we take a spin in the new Civic. Definitely faster, nicer, digital display doohickies, but kind of uncomfortable - the headrest was poking Mrs. in a very rude way.

So we head over to the used, and I tell the guy there I want to look at an Accord. So we get in the nice blue one, and drive it around, and its not bad. We start haggling, and I get some heebie jeebies. What if that's not the right car? Mrs. says "look, there's the gray one we peeked into, take another drive & make sure." He pulls it around, we take another spin, and I'm sold on this one instead. It's cleaner inside, 12,000 fewer miles, just feels better. Back to the table, I say I'll make a deal if he'll give me the same price on the gray one, and we're done.

I feel like I did a pretty good job negotiating. We got the sales tax included in the price, and knocked that down to $2,000 less than their original absolutely rock-bottom asking price. Did I rob them blind? Not likely. Did they rob me blind? At least it was only in one eye. Add the lojack and the bumper to bumper warranty and I didn't end up off quite as cheap as I wanted, but I would have paid for those anyway even if I didn't knock the price down.

So I am the proud owner of a 2003 Accord LX. I'm not sure I made the right choice about doing this or not, but I like the car a lot and I would have had to do this eventually. I was bargaining from a position of relative strength, in that I had a car. I could walk away no worse off than I was before. The cost is an issue, and I still feel like I was being selfish wanting something else when the other car still worked fine. But as the great Hebrew sage Hillel is reported to have said, "Ve-im lo achshav, eimatai?" - "And if not now, when?"

I doubt the sage had in mind buying Hondas (used or new), but the choice is made and I'm pretty happy with the result. Considerably cash poorer, but happy.

[Incidentally, my hint yesterday said "round things are involved, but not the sum total of the story." I will remind car people in particular that there are numerous round parts on cars that should have given away the answer. Washers, air vents, knobs, etc. Maybe even one or two things on the outside of the car. I thought it would be obvious if you're a REAL car guy.]

The conversation

regarding my Moronitude has taken a definite turn to the absurd. Considering where it began, a few more turns and we might almost hit normal.

I wouldn't count on it, though.

Water of Love

may be my alltime favorite Dire Straits song. And I really like Dire Straits, so that's saying something.

Once I had a woman I could call my own;
Once I had a woman now my woman she gone
Once there was a river, now there's a stone
You know it's evil when you're living alone.

Ahhh. It loses a lot without that fabulous steel guitar in the background, though.

Hang on a sec - I want to play it over again.

Joy.

UPDATE: The same holds true for Southbound Again. It's very difficult for me to really pick a favorite, but the self-titled first album is full of gems. All anybody knows is Sultans of Swing, and I've lost interest in that over the years because of how bloody often it's played. It is a fabulous song, but there's more to DS and more to this album in particular. If you don't have it and like guitar pickers, I highly recommend it. Available, naturally, at Amazon. (BTW, I agree wholeheartedly with the top review listed on the page.)

Moronitude

comes in all shapes and varieties, as do the morons that effect the moronitude. I have, I suspect, dived headfirst into the moropool. Unlike the usual suspects ::cough cough::Terry::cough cough::, mine does not involve a project at all.

It does, however, involve gobs and gobs of cash, was likely unnecessary, is more than a bit selfish, and is entirely self inflicted, which are the other key parts of moronitude.

Details will follow, most likely later this week when the point of no return has been surpassed.

Uhhhh

I don't quite get the French, example #26754404056453. Via the Corner, this quote in a Wall Street Journal Europe article:

The charming French minister of defense, Michèle Alliot-Marie, says she is not sending troops unless and until the U.N. can guarantee their safety.

Guarantee their safety? They're TROOPS, dammit! THEY...ARE...SUPPOSED...TO...BE... IN...HARM'S...WAY!!! They get paid to be shot at so that nobody else does. That's what most people's armies are for, though I grant you in France's case it can't be assumed.

I'm willing to guess the troops themselves are fairly robust, brave types. The Resistance proved there are French people with cajones. But their minister gives me the impression they're a bunch of nancy-boy [not necessarily Nancy-boy] wusses who need coddling.

Oh, I know this is just political posturing by a slimy politician, but there's something surreal and postmodern about keeping your troops safe. Very French, either way.

One of those News Days

First, this little gem:

Under fire, Indian eatery drops Hitler from name

I grant you some think there's no bad publicity, but I disagree. I imagine a "Stalin's Mustache" wouldn't go over too well in some places either.

Next, one for the "if you say so" file:

Cows 'moo' with an accent, farmers believe

This would seem to raise a number of interesting possibilities. From the Barnyard Players version of My Fair Lady ("Why can't the Cattle...learn...to...speak") to the development of the BLA (Bovine Language Association), where lefty cow professors could debate the existential superlative nonconsenusal meaning of "moo".

For the record, you can learn about cow breeds here.

I just signed up

for the BlogTribute to the victims of 9/11 (saw the link on Michelle Malkin's blog.) If you have a blog, and have not signed up, I strongly recommend you sign on. There were more than 300 names remaining of the nearly 3,000 dead, and I think it would be a terrible shame if we left those names off. It's not that I think this is the greatest thing ever done in the world, but it's one way of remembering those murdered on that day.

I have been assigned to acknowledge the life of one Michael Edward McHugh, age 35. I had never heard his name before today, but I will do my best on the anniversary of that terrible day to do his memory justice.

Sign up too, won't you?

Open Ignorance

is less worrisome than the veiled kind that usually passes for news around the country. As Andy McCarthy over at the Corner notes, "[this is] one of the more ignorant analyses of modern terrorism's root causes one is ever apt to read." McCarthy doesn't seem to think it's worth analyzing, and I can't blame him.

I'm going to take a stab at it anyway - if a moron like me can shred this guy, how much moreso a McCarthy who does this for a living? In order of writing, my take on his errors:

1) He says "terrorism is a tactic...the root cause of terrorism is politics" Here we have the basic problem of the left. They have it backwards. Terrorism exists for its own sake for the Islamic nuts, politics is simply a means of pushing the destruction of the West and its ideals. Just because to some westerners politics is the driving force doesn't mean it is to other people. Everything to the Wahabbist is a tool towards the Islamicization of the world. They could care less about fair representation, the right to their own way of life without government interference, or the rule of western law. They want an Islamic world, and terrorism helps them get there.

2) The "Author" argues that "When you are the target of terrorist tactics, you can't kill your way out of it." Uhh, yes, you can. We have been the target of it for a long time, and since we kicked the crap out of them in Iraq & Afghanistan (and yes, I realize those are not solved by a long shot) we haven't been attacked again. I also point to our previous war experiences. We killed a hell of a lot of Germans and Japanese, and we beat them in war and brought peace. This guy assumes we should be talking to these nutballs, as if they want the peace we want. They don't. They want us dead or enslaved. Non-western minds don't see negotiating as ideal - it's either a tactic or weakness. They understand force, they understand power. If we wish to survive, we need to show them we're not to be trifled with.

3) "We have a Jewish problem...the powerful Jewish lobby...we don't elect politicians to serve 3 percent of the population and a foreign country." Yadda. Yadda. Yadda. Let's ignore the blatant anti-semitism of this. Let's ignore the relative power of the "Israel/Jewish lobby" vs. that of the AMA, the ABA, AARP, Abortion lobby, etc., etc. Let me rephrase his description of the Jews with a left cause, and see how it plays. "We have a Hispanic problem. The government is totally paralyzed and is unwilling to issue even the mildest rebuke to Mexico, no matter how outrageous its behavior. Why? Because the immigrant lobby is so powerful, American politicians are afraid of it." I don't think I need to go further. You couldn't imagine anyone in the press writing such statements, despite the impact of illegals on our workforce, our social services, the tax implications, etc. If he did, he'd be branded as racist and hurtful. But naturally, it's the Jews causing all the problems. Believe me - lacking Israel, the Wahabbists would find some other reason to attack.

Look, I could argue about his vision of us getting out of the Imperialism business - I can understand that sentiment to some degree, but I don't think we're promoting classical imperialism. I also don't think George Washington's 18th century view of imperialism and international relations can be applied in a modern era of swift travel, blurred national identities, and global immigration. But I don't really know enough about it.

Shame on King Features for letting this imbecile publish, but let's have stuff like this out in the open. It's easier to destroy stuff like this when you can see it clearly for what it is.

Headlines

Speaking of See Enn Enn, they seem to stick to the script:

Jill Carroll: Terrorists 'surprisingly clever'

Leaving aside the need for a thirty part series on this woman's experience, why does the headline writer make the assumption that these guys should not be considered clever? What's surprising about it? We're dealing with smart people over there. Not in any field the rest of us think is useful, but they've put a lot of effort into figuring out how to hurt people.

This is one more reason to appreciate what our country and our soldiers are doing. We're fighting a group of people who are putting every ounce of energy they have into finding ways of destroying the world. And we, who are spending a lot of time on other things, including creative and beneficial things, are still winning. Not every battle, perhaps, but we haven't been successfully attacked here in five years. It remains a constant battle, but the best they can put together can't defeat what we have.

It raises the question I always ask when criminals or terrorists are the subject. What could these people accomplish if they spent half their time working on something useful? All that brainpower wasted on new ways to kill people? Hours working on methods of adding shrapnel to bombs? Go find a cure for cancer, stupid, and we'll be happy to talk about the superiority of Islam.

Let it be noted

that despite the best efforts of the Islamic Death Merchants Debating Society and Manure Delivery Collective, the apocalypse seems to be late. I grant you the day has yet to end in the US, but as CNN for the moment has the JonBenet guy on the front page, our cataclysm for now is no worse than yesterday's.

One could reasonably argue that CNN's idea of news is a sign that we're already at the End of Days, but that's been more of a slow, steady creep than an actual mass fireball of orgiastic Islamic martyr creation.

Barring any signs to the contrary, I'm going to contine to assume that I have to defrost the basement freezer tonight. That's subject to change, naturally, but for the moment I'll assume status quo ante.

On a more positive note

I made chocolate oreo ice cream this morning. The little taste I had suggested it was a good idea. And tonight?

Cookie dough, baby, Cookie Dough.

Whoa.

Had a conversation with someone last night that left me feeling like I'd been run over by a train. She and her husband split up, and we had no idea it was coming. We don't see them as often as we'd like, and I guess we won't be seeing them together again.

It's all mutually agreeable, things just didn't work out, etc., etc. It's probably the right thing to do. But I'm beyond shocked. Mrs. & I agreed that of all the couples we know, those with & without problems, these people weren't even on the list of people we thought could possibly break up. I don't want this to happen. Not because I think it's the wrong thing - it's not my marriage. I just hate the idea of this kind of change, and especially with people I like a lot.

We talked about it after the phone conversation, and my one takeaway is that I'm getting exceedingly paranoid about the direction life is taking. Things seem too good to be true, given what's happening in the world in general and specifically to people around us. I'm not begging for trouble, mind you, but I can't see why we'd escape the illness, strife, and troubles of people we know. Oh, I know God doesn't really work that way - all happens for a reason, and He's not sending problems just for the fun of it. But I do wonder why I have been blessed with a happy marriage, good health, and (mostly) good kids, and others I know are struggling with some of these issues.

It's a large philosophy problem I guess, and I'm not the most philosophical person in the world. But this is a depressing turn of events, and given the issues in the wider world at the moment, I'm feeling deeply concerned about the course of human events on both the micro and the macro levels.

Desperately Bored?

Desperately need to recreate a PT Boat for light anti-ship warfare?

Then the Higgins Industries Collection is just the place for you!

It came across an email list I'm on, and I thought some of you might care.

Terry Sent me

a note the other day, asking me to look at this article from the Straight Dope. He asked (without giving it away) if I noticed the same thing about it he did; as it turns out, I did not.

Terry noticed how comical and sad it was that the people at the Seder didn't actually know what was going on, and couldn't explain it to the children. What's in some ways equally sad is the fact that I didn't notice that at all. I've become so used to the idea that the average American Jew knows less about their own heritage and faith than they do about African traditions that I can't even tell when the ignorance is as blatant as in that article.

I'm a minority of a minority. I'm one of precious few Jews left in America that practices daily, knows something of our heritage, and is raising his children in those traditions. Your average American Jew participates in his faith perhaps three times a year - a Passover seder, trips to services on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, and Chanukah. I'm almost tempted to leave that last one off, given how close it is to Christmas for many Jews.

Oh, people will tell me "there are a lot of Conservative and Reform Jews out there who practice regularly, what are you talking about?" I answer two things to that. First, those numbers are terribly small, and shrinking by the year. I grant you there are active members of those denominations, but it's a well defined trend that kids raised in those denominations are barely aware they are Jewish. They get next to no Jewish upbringing, and it's no surprise that they don't associate Judaism with any actual practice.

My second answer is the one that might offend people, but I don't much care. As far as I'm concerned, there's precious little about Conservative and Reform Judaism that involves the actual practice of the faith of our ancestors. Call them Judaism if you like, but I won't. When you discard the Rabbinic explanations for the written words of the Torah; when you argue (as most Reform do) that Judaism (and by extension, God) needs to adapt to our modern needs instead of the other way around; when you treat your faith and its tenets with contempt, I won't call you a practising Jew. A misguided one, perhaps. An apostate, when I'm feeling especially irritated.

But Judaism? No. Sorry. Uh-uh. Not Judaism in my book. Our purpose on this earth is to follow the word of God as laid out in the Torah - both the written and oral law. We are to be a light unto the nations by our devotion to God and His word. We are not here, whatever the lefties think, exclusively for "Tikkun Olam." Yes, we are supposed to "Repair the World," but you can not - I repeat, CAN NOT - do that at the expense of the mitzvot commanded us by God. All the social justice in the world doesn't help if you're missing the other parts of our mission. Prayer, Torah Study, charity, and daily observance of the mitzvot are out responsibility. Without those, the rest is an empty shell.

So the ignorance of the seder participants is not surprising. I should have seen the sadness in it as Terry did, but as I said, I'm so used to it I don't see it anymore. It's not their fault - American Jews have been steadily drifting away from observance for more than 100 years, and these people have never been taught anything. When returnees to the faith are struggling to reconcile their past with their desire for more observance, they are often told they were like "Tinok Shenishba" - essentially a babe in the woods. There is no point in beating yourself up over something you had no control over. When you're brought up with nothing, you can't be expected to know the mistakes you are making.

Even the last great barrier of American Judaism "well, of course you're going to marry someone Jewish, right?" has fallen by the wayside. Intermarriage rates are enormous, and for good reason. Why would a person listen to a parent arguing for a Jewish marriage when Judaism means nothing in the house? At this point in our experience, so many of the parents themselves married non-Jews that almost no one makes the attempt anymore to keep the marriages between Jews. By halacha, so many Jews are considered not Jewish (because their mothers were not Jews), that we've lost millions to intermarriage.

I was most surprised, in the article Terry sent, that the respondent actually wrote as if he knew something. I don't know if it was research or his own knowledge, but he got most of it right. He clearly doesn't believe most of it - he refers to it all as "folklore", which I heartily disagree with him on. But the ignorance of the participants in the Seder? Too common at this point to be novel. It's very sad, and if not for the small segment of the population in the US dedicated to remaining true to Torah, I would imagine there would be no Jews at all left in this country within a century or so from now.

Sorry to be depressing, but this is where we are.

A comment

by Dave over at Terry's made me wonder about something (and yes, I'm quite the namedropper, huh?)

He noted his childhood games of Cowboys & Indians, and I got to wondering what the few kids not crazy glued to their playstations are running around playing these days? Sure most kids are fat as houses and permanently attached to their couches & remote controls (at least to hear the media's take on it), but there's gotta be a few out there who go out in the street & actually play. Have they moved on to drug dealers and Narcs? Special Forces and Taliban? ("awww, man, why do I have to be Mullah Omar again?")

Sadly, I assume kids have moved past those. Any that haven't have been indoctrinated by the effeminate left not to be mean or stereotype Aboriginals or something. Today's kids are expected to play "UN Negotiation" or "Kiss French Derriere Capitulation." I remember playing cops & robbers, or ghosts & goblins, and I remember having imagination. I must really be getting old - the loss of those running around, shooting games makes me sad.

Well, to make up for it, allow me to say "I got you!"

[The proper response, of course, is "nu-uh, you missed me!"]

One other thing.

Long Island beaches do have their fair share of attractive, nubile young ladies wearing revealing swimwear. As a possum might note, RRRRROWWWLLLL.

Good Book, Bad Movie

They are, however, unrelated to each other. The good book (not The Good Book) is Stephen Hunter's American Gunfight: The Plot to Kill Harry Truman. I agree with many of the commenters that the style Hunter takes to write the book is a bit distracting, but on the whole it's a good tale of a story I'd never even heard of before. Hunter was a regular on the temporarily hiatused Tony Kornheiser show on WTEM radio in DC, and one of the most eloquent people I've ever heard. His description of the events of 9/11 remain the best overview of the attacks I think I've ever heard.

The book, which I haven't finished, certainly highlights Hunter's knowledge and appreciation of guns, the culture of shooters & law enforcement in the '50s, and the hazyness of a gunfight. Again, the jumping back & forth between parts of the story is a little hard to live with, but on the whole it's a good book.

The movie, on the other hand, didn't do it for me. I got 7 Days in May from Netflix a few weeks back, on the assumption that Burt Lancaster + Kirk Douglas=good movie. I was pretty disappointed, on the whole. The acting was fine, and I think the story had the germ of a good movie in it, but the various subtexts of the movie are so typically liberal as to be caricature. The overly aggressive, treasonous military, the bucking that stereotype marine colonel, the Soviets who can be our friends if we just try peace, the decent, honorable president, etc.

I found myself agreeing heartily with some of Lancaster's lines as the general planning a coup. He suggests repeatedly that the Soviets can't be trusted, and they're simply playing games by signing treaties. And I think the character was correct. The President argues that we have to try, and peace is the only answer, and kumbaya, and all that nonsense. I imagine the director Frakenheimer was a typical Hollywood leftist, and another apologist for the Soviet Union. The problem is the movie has no subtlety - there's no depth to the military men, only secret plots and barely hidden fascism.

So if it was on your rental list, I'd skip it.

Can I tell you

how much I am growing to loathe scanning images? At its best it's monontonous, and it really isn't at its best right now. I've been at it all morning, and I can say I'm enjoying myself not at all.

Preview, outline, scan, crop, save, enter metadata, repeat. It's a little too much like work for my taste.

Slow sports news day

So Lacrosse is the next big thing? Kids are leaving baseball to go play hockey without skates or ice? This is the next soccer or professional beach volleyball league, folks. A niche sport that works really well for some people, but is never going to be the next big thing.

There are an estimated 382,000 people playing lacrosse in the US, according to the story. If my math is right, that makes slightly more than .1% of the US population. On the flip side, Little League alone states [media guide, page 47 - warning - PDF]that more than 2.6 MILLION kids played organized softball or baseball in 2005. Add in the adults, and I think you're looking at well over 3 million people playing baseball in the US. I believe that would be about 10 times the number of lacrosse players.

Sorry lacrosse folks, but I wouldn't count on becoming the top sport in the US anytime soon.

I have noticed

for no particular reason that I have heard very little from or about Ted Kennedy lately. If I was a Kosmonaut or other liberal conspiracy theorist, I imagine I would speculate about the timing of his disappearance and blaming it on the Bush administration somehow.

I imagine the truth is more prosaic - he's probably inebriated and chasing a floozy, sans trousers. Like I said, it was an extremely idle thought.

Someone I know

professionally has chosen to burn some bridges in a fairly big way. I don't think it was a smart idea, as it had consequences. Those consequences, however, are going to make my life easier, so I can't say I'm that upset about it.

I do think people need to consider everything they say & do VERY carefully before pulling the trigger on such an act. It's a small world, and things have a funny way of coming back to bite one in the fundament when you least expect it.

Conference Wrapup

On the whole, a bit dull. I walked out of several sessions out of sheer boredom. Perhaps some of the topics might have been interesting presented properly, but these were not. One session that did deliver was on a fairly old controversy regarding a cover for our professional journal, perhaps two or three years ago.

I know, I'm overcome with excitement too.

Without getting into all the dirty details, the cover caused some stir, especially among corporate archivists who have to explain to the bosses that might have seen it that the organization does not hate corporations. Letters flew back & forth, including one from an academic basically saying its impossible for corporations and corporate archivists to be ethical.

So the session dealt with the whole thing, and I have to say the Q & A after made me feel highly defensive. Let's simply say there are a lot of liberals in my profession, and I believe they have a bizarre view of the relative value of corporations vs. academia. Barring one older gent who stood up and told the gathered socialists that they were off their nut. I told him privately that I agreed with everything he said. I don't know that there's such an antipathy to corporations among the general membership, but there's clearly a cultural chasm here. I'm glad I am where I am - I couldn't take the academy life at this point, and I prefer working in an environment where the real world intrudes occasionally.

Other than that, nothing of note happened. We spent shabbos with our friends, had some lovely grilled lamb chops for Friday night dinner, and then a large lunch on Saturday that included some other old friends, so the trip was still nice. Driving home took forever, most of the traffic hitting as we got closer to NY. So I'm not sorry we went, but I don't know how much I learned.

XXXVI

is not old, is it? Sure feels old. It's been 6 whole hours already, and I feel like my AARP card should have arrived already.

A real conversation

I had on the Metro on Wednesday (as best I remember it):

Guy on my left: Excuse me, does that on your head mean you're Jewish?
Me: Yes it does
GOML: so, does that mean you don't believe in Jesus Christ?
M: Yes, that's right
GOML: So, you've never seen the evidence of his power on earth?
M: I can't say that I have
GOML: So, what do you believe in?
M: Well, what you know of as God the Father is all we believe in.
GOML: How can you make it through without knowing him?
M: Well, we had 1500 years of tradition before Jesus arrived, and it's good enough for us

At this point, my stop has arrived, and I make my apologies for cutting short our talk.

GOML: Well, I hope you can find his truth someday.
M: uh, Ok, thanks.

He then gets up to get off too, and I half think we're going to continue this, but he heads off another way. It was very polite, and the first time I've been proselytized to in a while. I know many of you regulars are strong in your Christian faith, and spreading the word is an important task for you, but allow me to offer some unsolicited advice. If you see a guy in a kipah walking down the street, feel free to discuss faith wth him.

But don't bother trying to convert him. As Johnnie Cochrane might say, "If he's wearing a lid, he's a real yid." Not much chance he's open to alternative approaches. But I have a feeling most of you knew that already.

Today

happens to be Tisha B'av, the commemoration of the destruction of the two temples of antiquity. It also commemorates every other tragedy to happen to the Jewish people over the last 3,000 years, and I think I wrote about this last year.

In any event, it means solemnity, no food, no water, and that's a little rough in 100 degree temps. I'm heading off soon to the conference, so I'll be indoors and vaguely occupied during the day. Mrs. left me the car, so I don't have to deal with the metro and the 1/2 mile walk to the hotel from the metro stop.

More later.

UPDATE: I did write about this last year. And not that it took a genius to figure out, but my prophecy was accurate. Palestinian and other arab terrorism has not stopped, and kicking Jews out of Gaza made damn little difference.

More Conferencing!

Wheeee! A colloquium full of Business Archivists on NARA's plans for saving electronic records (muy complicated), and later yesterday a drunken bash with the same crowd. Well, not drunk, but alcohol was served. If you paid for it.

The middle of the day was highlighted by a trip to a local archives for some work-related research, which turned out pretty fruitful. Not a ton of stuff, but enough to make it worth the trip. It's also nice to see other people's shops, and discover that we all have messy offices.

Especially if the archivist is a cute redhead.

Lookit the Elephant!

I should mention that we took the kiddies to the Museum of Natural History on Tuesday. I will also mention that a simple walk across the mall from the Smithsonian metro stop to the museum was Sahara-like. It is bloody hot down here, and I don't care for swamp-like humidity. The museum itself was fine, save a few overwhelmingly PC exhibits. I think the museum community is pretty reliably left, so it's no big surprise. Mrs. was unimpressed with their description of "Wealth in Africa" as being centered (other than on actual money) on "friends, family, etc." No mention of poverty. No mention of internecine warfare. Whatever. There was a section of the museum labeled as "Western Culture", which turned out to be a gift shop. Intentional? Meh. I would've expected a "westerners have ruined the world" lecture, so crass commercialism was a relief in comparison.

The only other exhibit of note was the "Arctic!" exhibit, which is only notable for the excessive! use! of! exclamation! marks!!!!!! throughout. The hyperactive, handwringing, overblown description of man's destructiveness (and no, we didn't actually go through the wretched thing) led me to refer to it as the Al Gore exhibit.

A few expensive tchtochkes later, a brief panic when we couldn't locate youngest, and then home.

The Bar Mitzvah

incidentally, was very nice. The food was good, the kid read his Torah portion beautifully, and we really got a chance to catch up with some folks we haven't seen in a while. I cannot tell my cousins' hordes of children apart, but there were so many people running around I was confused anyway.

You may recall a while back I wrote about the accused abuser in my alma mater. I did take the opportunity to ask my uncle, who is more dialed in to the Brooklyn orthodox world, his opinion of the matter. He didn't surprise me with his response, but I think he disappointed me a bit. While he fully condemns the actions of the molester, he's more upset with the news people for making an issue out of it. He seems to think they just want to make organized religion look bad.

I grant that's true to some degree, but for my money that simply avoids the question. If anything, that is proof to me that we need to be better than everyone else. If they're looking to make us look bad, why give them ammunition? Behave holier than the secular world (not holier than thou, but actually holier) and what will they have to write about?

Don't get me wrong - my uncle is one of the decentest, most honest, and most observant people I know. I think, however, he still has his blind spots. As we all do, I suppose.

Live Nude Conference Blogging!

Did I wake anyone up? I am, in fact, fully clothed, with the exception of my pale, hairy legs and daring toes. I've gone commando in the sock area, given that temps are in the 90s around here.

The trip down was uneventful, largely due to the installation and permanent running of the portable DVD player. The down side is I had to listen to Barbie Rapunzel, Strawberry Shortcake, and not one but two My Little Pony videos. May I say the writing on these teleplays is nothing short of execrable? On the plus side, the kids were happy the whole trip down.

We did stop at an outlet place in Maryland, where LL Bean was kind enough to have pants in my waist size for $5 apiece. I can't remember the last time I spent $5 on anything that lasted more than a day. We spent some dough in a few places, but on the whole we saved quite a bit so I think it was a good idea. The only stupid thing is I have these dopey gift cards that expire at the end of August, and if I had been thinking we would have spent them yesterday.

There is no actual conference news as of yet - the first things I expect to go to begin tomorrow. I know anyone still paying attention is desperate to know of the doings of the Society of American Archivists, but you'll just have to manage your disappointment for one more day.

This may be

one of the smartest things I've read in a while.

Even if

you're not much of a fan of South Park, I highly recommend the episode they re-aired last night on Comedy Central, ManBearPig. (Wikipedia description here.)

Aside from the usual gross ending (which as a guy I found pretty funny anyway), the episode was a lovely, beautiful, entertaining skewer of Al Gore. I enjoyed myself immensely.

Headline silliness

This one from the Christian Science Monitor cracked me up:

Palestinians in Gaza worry about becoming the 'forgotten war'

Oh, poor baby. Nobody remembers you kidnapped Israeli citizens, murdering one, and now the Israelis are dismantling your pile of rubble. That dingbat Abbas reportedly said "But it's more than that. We're the forgotten war. [Monday], there were seven Palestinians killed in Gaza. Does anybody know that?"

Sniff sniff.

Don't worry, pal. Israel hasn't forgotten. I haven't forgotten. I'm pretty sure you'll get what's coming to you, as soon as the Northern fracas is settled. Your Palestinians are being killed because you keep firing rockets into Israel and murdering their citizens. You wanted to be your own country? You want to commit acts of war? This is what you reap. Sorry if you're not the focus of everyone's attention, but they'll get to you when the time comes.

I am alive

for anyone wondering. I keep meaning to sit down & write, but other stuff and occasional work intervene.

Lots of stuff is going on around here, including masses of emails going back & forth. Those may be muddying the already murky waters around here, but I feel like we may be on the edge of clarifying roles and responsibilities. If we can all start pulling our oars in the same direction, we may get somewhere. There's also some potential good news coming, put I'm keeping my cards to the vest until I know more. Don't bother staying tuned - the way things sometimes go here, no updates are coming anytime soon.

We've got my nephew's Bar Mitzvah coming up this weekend, which has led to the sorts of family nonsense that always accompanies such occasions. I love my family, and I'd like to spend time with them, but certain blood relatives are being unnecessarily difficult. The actual celebrants, my brother & sister in law, and the Bar Mitzvah boy, are not the difficult ones. Add to that annoying neighbors who think my nearly 40 year old brother is incapable of running his own party, and there's a bit of tension around. Nevertheless, we will go and enjoy, and I told my brother that our goal is to avoid adding to his stress level.

We're on our way south next week for a conference/visit with the friends, so it should be nice to get away. I may bring my laptop, in which case there could be some ConferenceBlogging. Updates as necessary.

Librarians & the War Effort

Leaving aside the usual lefty/communist efforts of the library community to undermine our attempts to kill terrorists, there are still some out there doing their bit.

Check out the Corps of Engineers, and long-distance reference work. Now that's good service.

Talk about

Team Turmoil. As a Ranger fan, this sort of thing warms my heart. I'm delighted to see the Icelanders totally, utterly confused and inept.

As a hockey fan, I cannot imagine what is possessing Charles Wang. GM by committee is a ridiculous idea, and Smith's abilities as Rangers GM were mostly his own. He drafted well, mostly traded & signed free agents well (with the notable exception of letting Messier go in 1997, which was horrendous). He was clearly a guy determined to be the man in charge, which is why Mike Keenan was fired right after the cup win.

I think Smith is a tough guy to work with, but I think he did his job well. Hiring your own backup goalie as GM strikes me as odd, and asking him to negotiate with his own teammates is going to get weird. Whatever - nice for hockey to make the back cover of the paper in the summertime.

A Certain News Network

is reporting on its front page, under a big banner headline, the subhead:

• Several suspected Hezbollah rockets hit the northern Israeli city of Haifa

Umm, suspected? They suspect they are rockets? Or suspect they come from Hezbollah? Why not just call them "alleged rockets," as if these are merely accused of being large, rocket propelled, flying explosives? Aimed at regular people?

The whole thing is belied a bit by the following subhead, which follows immediately below:

• Israel has closed the Haifa port due to Hezbollah rocket attacks, Reuters reports

Shouldn't that be suspected attacks? As if there might be some other country lobbing bombs at Israel? I guess the "Reuters reports" is supposed to cover the alleged combatants as they allegedly try to kill civillians.

I don't expect better from See Enn Enn, but the idea that there might be folks who still think that Israel should sit back and take it still makes me sad. Not that I don't expect it by now, but you'd think that people would accept that as a sovereign nation, Lebanon is responsible for the actions of members of their ruling coalition. And that rockets over an international border are an act of war.

But I guess that's a bit too much to ask, certainly from the keepers of the truth of the brave, honest fourth estate.

In other, more interesting news

my co-religionists are set to take over the NYPD. (Registration may be required, and they'll probably take the article down in a week or so.)

I'd like to say

that I have posted tons of stuff, and it all got eaten. I'd like to say I've been traveling the world, with no internet access. I'd like to say I've been kidnapped by Martians.

The fact is, I can't say any of those things. I have been absolutely, utterly swamped the last few weeks with work to do. Some of it is what I get paid for (supposedly), most of it is stuff I've been asked to do. Add to that the company has issued "no ball playing on the internet" edicts, and I've been a little leery of spending massive amounts of time composing garbage for you to read.

I guess I sometimes lose my taste for blogging, especially when I'm solving other people's crises. Suffice it to say I am well, healthy, and typing this on a spankin' new IBM Lenovo ThinkCentre [ed. aside I don't know why a PC sold in the US, assembled from Japanese parts by some indentured servant in China, needs a British/Canadian spelled name, but I guess that's globalization for you. ] I finally got someone here to cough up some dough for me, as I was down, professionally, to my last $600, which was supposed to last me forever. So I spent a chunk of it on a new PC with 2GB !!!!!! of RAM, a UPS backup, and a flat screen.

So I may not be participating in the blogosphere, but at least I'm doing it in style.