Kol Rina

Falling microfilm

2011-09-21T13:11:00.000-07:00

J: You are not going to fall.
Me: I am sitting down right now.
J: I was talking to the microfilm.

Koala

2011-02-01T12:22:00.001-08:00

Favor

2010-12-14T09:43:00.002-08:00

"Can I ask you a favor?"
"You can ask..."

To the Scanner!

2010-12-14T09:43:00.001-08:00

To the scanner! (As in, to the Batmobile!).

Cuba

2010-10-18T14:39:00.000-07:00

Things that I have never heard said to me until today: "I'm [a Jew] from Cuba. Let me know if you want me to tell you about all of the crazy things that Cuban Jews do!"

Grading papers

2010-10-11T15:30:00.000-07:00

Me to a professor: This is due on December 23, when the semester ends.
The professor: I know when it ends, that's when I have to start grading exams. I dread it.
Me: And we dread taking them.
Me, internally- maybe I shouldn't have said that.

What are the chances of someone bringing a book up from cataloging to be put on reserve at the exact time that a guy who had asked about it months ago was taking out books, prompting him to say, "I asked for that book- it's for me."

Wrong way

2010-09-20T14:45:00.001-07:00

Homer: Kids, there's three ways to do things. The right
way, the wrong way, and the Max Power way!
Bart: Isn't that the wrong way?
Homer: Yeah, but faster!

Peppers

2010-09-14T06:00:00.000-07:00

Co-worker: Are these your leftover peppers in the fridge?
J: No.
R: No. But I will eat them if someone wants me to.

Orange Juice

2010-08-31T11:11:00.000-07:00

"I couldn't decide between 'pulp' and 'no pulp,' so I got 'some pulp...'"

Biology animations (for fun)

2010-08-16T09:07:00.000-07:00

Today at work I happened to find some biology animations on YouTube. They are really cool, especially the first one- you could almost say that it is like watching an action movie of sorts.

Neurotransmission

Acytelcholine

The Brain

G-protein Coupled Receptors

More G-protein Coupled Receptors

Antibodies

Easy come, easy go

2010-07-28T11:06:00.000-07:00

To a patron: You have a fine of $17.50.
Patron: That must be a mistake, because we cleared that up.
In response: Oh, wait, it is a credit. You have a $17.50 credit. But that too is a mistake.
Patron: Oh well, easy come, easy go.

Why not?

2010-07-22T11:54:00.000-07:00

Co-worker, in response to mixing up two men who have beards: Men should not have beards!
Maintenance man, bearded, walking by: (Indignantly). Why not?

More at work

2010-06-10T08:44:00.000-07:00

(Co-worker and I chatting on Facebook).
"I can hear you typing."
(Laughs).
(Types "lol").
"I also can hear you laughing."

"What, my chocolate is not good enough for you?"

My Banana Republic Saga, or, How I Beat the System

2010-05-10T20:03:00.000-07:00

Starting in January, I have had a strange stroke of luck at Banana Republic (thank you, bad economy). As follows:

1. I accumulated $40 worth of rewards certificates (the Gap card functions as a Visa card that you can use at other stores, to earn points). The rules state that you can only use three at a time, and usually they send $10 rewards certificates, but as it worked out, I had a $20 certificate, so I could use all $40 at once. Thus a dress that cost ~$52.94 (originally $150, marked down to $132, and then 40% off of that, or something like that) cost me ~$12.94.

2. For some unknown reason, Gap sent me a $50 certificate- yay! Thus a dress that cost ~$51 (originally $150) cost me ~$11.

So far, we have two $150 dresses for $23.

It gets better. Well, not quite as good as that, but still good.

3. While I was buying the ~$11 dress, I found one that cost $38 (it had no price tag, but we can only assume that it too cost $150 originally).

So far, ~$61 for $450 worth of dresses. Not bad!

4. 5. 6. I don't remember the specific amounts, but I ended up paying $150 for $900 worth of dresses. It was all very exciting.

Plums

2010-04-27T08:30:00.000-07:00

Me, trying to describe the color of the other boots, that I didn't buy: They are kind of plum colored. How do I describe plum? (Looking around) Do we have anything here that is plum?

Co-worker: No, but you can go to the store and buy plums.

Good times

2010-04-19T11:49:00.000-07:00

Coworker: Can you remind me to buy chips and a drink for dinner?
Me: That's a very healthy dinner.
Coworker: Well, I'm eating liver with it!

Me: Is the card machine eating people's money again?
Coworker: No. Not yet.

On the way to work today, I saw a dad and his son playing imaginary baseball. The kid threw an imaginary ball and the dad swung an imaginary swing. The kid- "you missed!"

2010-04-14T09:27:00.000-07:00

As I read about nutrition for the fun of it, today I was reading about sucralose on Wikipedia, because I had found it in the ingredients of my hot chocolate, and wanted to know what exactly I was eating. Sucralose is basically the same sugar molecule, but modified to have three chlorides instead of three of the hydroxyl groups. Funnily, sucralose was discovered in 1976 when one lab worker told another to test the substance, but he heard taste.

This lead me to investigate into some of the other artificial sweeteners, including aspartame. Aspartame, commonly found in diet sodas, is made out of two amino acids- phenylalanine and aspartic acid (therefore, people who have phenylketonuria can not eat this).

Sucralose is 600 times sweeter than is sugar, and aspartame 200 times.

While reading more about aspartic acid, (an amino acid that also functions as a neurotrasmitter), I also ended up reading about something interesting called GLAST.

Heard in the office

2010-04-14T06:24:00.000-07:00

Funny office conversations:

-What happened to the email that you sent me? Did you like...
-Steal it back? Yes.

-I'm getting the Sarah Palin glasses.
-Will you be able to talk like her now too?
-You betcha.

-I'm going to the vending machine. Does anyone want anything?
-In life, or of the food choices?

Beta carotene

2010-03-17T10:55:00.000-07:00

In my spare time, for fun, sometimes I read up on nutrition. My latest favorite is beta carotene, a compound that the body cuts into half to form vitamin A. Beta carotene has a long hydrocarbon chain, with double bonds. The body uses beta carotene to produce retinal, and retinal binds to the protein opsin to form rhodopsin, a pigment for vision (light hits one of the double bonds and twists it from a cis to trans bond, and this generates a visual response). For more information on this, see the Wikipedia links.
According to Wikipedia, beta carotene is a terpenoid, and terpenoids help to attach proteins to cell membranes. Thus, beta carotene is not just for vision.

And this is what happens when I have too much free time on my hands...
Thank you, Wikipedia...

Money

2010-03-17T10:49:00.000-07:00

"I am going to the snack machines to get a Snapple. Do you want anything from the snack machine?"
"Can I give you money...to buy pretzels?"
"You can give me money. I don't know about the pretzels..."

The Messiah

2010-02-22T13:10:00.000-08:00

A co-worker: "...may it happen speedily in our day."
Me: "the Messiah?"
Him: "No, the integration of all of the books in the restricted room into one complete sequence."
Me: "Which do you think will happen first?"
Me: "Sorry."

2010-02-03T07:29:00.000-08:00

Co-worker: It is Jesus' birthday party. Me: Shouldn't that have been around Christmas time? Ha, ha.

NY Times

2009-11-16T13:04:00.000-08:00

Well, again I haven't written for a while. However, I do have an annoying story to report. It involves the fact that there is a New York Times newsbox on the corner of my block. At times, when I pass by, I lean down to read the headlines. Then, if a story seems interesting, I make a mental note to look it up online when I get back to my apartment; however, by the time that I get home, I usually forget to do so. This past Shabbat, I for the first time ever saw someone doing the exact same thing! A Jewish guy, wearing a kippah, was leaning down, reading the headlines. Actually, he appeared to be reading an entire story. I wanted to talk to him, but I feared that if I were to say, "are there any interesting headlines," it would sound like a pick-up line. So, I didn't talk to him, but, in my usual fashion of regretting things, now regret not doing so. What if I should have talked to him, and I didn't talk to him? Wouldn't that be sad? Lesson in life- if you see a guy who looks nice, and is wearing a nice suit (and reads the New York Times), you should talk to him.

2009-09-29T12:46:00.001-07:00

Well, it seems that I only write when something goes awry with the Snapple machine at work. This time, I walked down the hallway carrying a dollar bill and two quarters, only to discover that the cost of a Snapple from this machine had gone up to $1.75. Then, after I got another quarter, I pressed the button for a strawberry-kiwi flavored drink, only to recieve a raspberry-peach drink. Oh well.

In other news, I just read about the benefits of maintaining a low acid diet. The body's blood pH ideally should remain slightly alkaline, slightly higher than at seven. However, many foods have a low pH, so it is good also to eat alkali foods to balance things out.

Here is an interesting article that a friend of mine posted on Facebook, about the role of calcium in the body's pH.

Face detection

2009-06-15T19:02:00.000-07:00

My new camera has a face detection function. I find this fascinating. How on earth does it know how to recognize a face? I ran a few experiments to determine just how accurate this feature is. It did not mistake the back of my co-worker's head for a face. It did not mistake a pile of books for a face. It recognized my co-worker's face. It did however generate a very small square around something else on the desk. But, very cool- when you hold it up to another picture that contains a face, it does recognize it!

However, I was thinking, how much more so the human brain, which does way more complicated things than that. We use face detection on a much larger scale, all the time. As sophisticated as technology is, it still is no match for the human brain.

Shy

2009-06-09T10:57:00.001-07:00

"You're not shy! You're just weird!"

My headband saga

2009-06-09T07:56:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, I attended a very fun wedding shower at which we made headbands. Making an art project evoked fun memories of being little and making art projects. To make the headbands, we took satin bands, added elastic, and then glued on decorations. Mine looked kind of hippy-ish. I liked it, though, so I wore it to work yesterday. Sadly, as I ran to catch a bus (because the subway had stopped working briefly just when I needed to take it) on the way to look at an apt., the headband slipped out of my pocket. I didn't have time to go back to look for it, but I did tell the story to the broker to have something to say when there was one of those quite moments. Then, of all things, when an hour later I went back and retraced my steps, there it was, lying right in the middle of 116th street! I ran into the street and grabbed it (thus prompting an onlooker to give me a very strange look). Thus this seemingly pointless story has a happy ending. Yay.

At work

2009-06-09T07:55:00.001-07:00

Co-worker: I'm going to look for a book.
Me: Do we have those here?

Overheard at the office

2009-05-13T14:48:00.000-07:00

Today, my co-worker attempted to explain the show Wicked, and ended up describing the characters as, "one is green, and one is popular." This prompted, "popular is not a color." Good times.

April 8, 2009

2009-04-08T06:59:00.001-07:00

It's weird to think of what might be in 28 years from now...during the last Birchat Hachama, I was approx. three months old.

This morning, I woke up super early and took a picture of the sun right around Netz. Then after I finished packing I headed to Central Park (Pey Dalid) to say the bracha.

Now I am sitting at work, reading Sefer Yizrach Or, published in 1952 for the 1953 Birchat Hachama. That year, Birchat Hachama fell out on isru chag.

This sefer, published by R' Eliezer Ehronreich, compiles various sources relating to Birchat Hachama. As it states in the description on the cover, it contains laws published in ליווארנא in 1785, with later additions in Czernowitz. Further, it contains הוספות by the Chatam Sofer (Pressburg, 1869) [btw my family maintains that we are descendants of the Chatam Sofer] and the S'dei Chemed (1897), with a kuntrus of the Omer Hasadeh (R' Eliezer Hayyim Deutch) that includes hagot of the Zafnat Paneach.

In the intro., the author gives a philosophical overview of the concept of the blessing. He writes that this blessing serves to remind us of G-d's control over the heavenly spheres, and that the sun, stars, and planetary system give testimony to G-d. The fact that the planets continue to move in perfect harmony serves as a sign of G-d. This brings to mind Rambam's phrase, שהגלגל סובב תמיד ואי אפשר שיסוב בלא מסבב, mentioned in Yesodei HaTorah (1:5), a reference to the idea of Prime Mover. The author in fact makes use of Rambam's format in the outset of Mishneh Torah--יסוד היסודות ועמוד החכמות--and starts with יתבונן הנלבב וישכיל המבין (the enthusiastic one shall investigate, and the one who understands shall learn, or something along those lines).

I counted backwards, and all years of Birchat Hachama end in 1,3,5,7,9--2009, 1981, 1953, 1925, 1897, 1869, 1841, 1813, 1785, etc.

To convert to the Hebrew year, as taught to me by Professor Ben Sasson, you can take the gematria of ת, add the gematria of the letters next to it, and add 1240.

Now I should stop procrastinating and write my paper ("Evil class").

Haggadah

2009-03-30T16:13:00.000-07:00

Funny Facebook spoof of the Haggadah (by Carl Elkin)

Snapple revisited

2009-03-01T10:17:00.000-08:00

This post once again relates to the Snapple machine, and, yes, I realize that this makes for the third time that I mention it, but this time the story has somewhat of a happy ending. Today, I put two dollars into the machine and pressed the button for raspberry iced tea. Sold out. Then I tried raspberry peach. Also sold out. That left me with lemon iced tea (because I had already had strawberry kiwi the day before), which turned out to be great because the machine dispensed not one but two bottles! I was very happy for a moment until I realized that at some point I probably would have to pay somebody for the mistake, but nevertheless...and the Snapple machine and I are friends again.

Valmaddona Trust

2009-02-25T16:10:00.000-08:00

Recently, I attended the Sotheby's exhibit of the Valmaddona Trust. I took some pictures, posted here:

Another cab ride

2009-02-22T07:32:00.000-08:00

Today on my way to work, I took a cab for the six blocks in between the subway station and work. I do this on occasion if I am running late-it saves time. I always feel bad, though, because the cab drivers seem not to like this. So, this time, when I got into the cab, I preemptively right away began apologizing. It went something like, "I'm so sorry that it's such a short ride, I'm really sorry." In contrast to other cab drivers, however, this driver seemed not to mind at all, and in fact said, "you never know what might happen. I could drop you off a few blocks away and there end up getting someone who is going to JFK." Apparently, this driver believes in hashgacha. He also believes in prayer: as he dropped me off at what he noticed was a Jewish institution, he said, "pray for me." I wasn't sure that I had heard him right, so I said, "what?" and he pointed at the building and said, "pray for me." I love it how sometimes you encounter random strangers and have these small random conversations with them that turn out to be interesting or even meaningful. (It reminds me of what we have been discussing in "Evil" class, about Buber and encounter). Anyway, if you ever find yourself in cab number 2K72, he will not mind if it is a short fare and even doesn't care if you are annoying enough to pay by credit card!

מאי חנוכה

2008-12-27T22:16:00.000-08:00

At work, I came across a sefer titled (not entitled!) מאי חנוכה, which consists of a compilation of the various sources-- Gemarah, Rishonim, Achronim, Poskim-- regarding the topic of Chanukah.

Quick question: The Gemarah (Shabbat 22a) in the midst of its discussion on Chanukah seemingly goes on a tangent, giving a d'var Torah on the pasuk that states regarding Yosef, "והבור רק אין בו מים." The Gemarah here states the famous statement quoted by Rashi: מים אין בו אבל נחשים ועכרבים יש בו. My question is, why does the Gemarah add this in here? Granted, we always read parshat Miketz on Shabbat Chanukah, but the part of the Yosef story involving the pit does not occur in Miketz, and so I remain perplexed.

Snapple, part II

2008-12-22T14:12:00.000-08:00

The Snapple machine truly has it in for me. Today after I put in one dollar, it refused to take my second dollar. It also refused to take any coins. Maybe I should have paid heed to the sign that said something to that effect, but I thought to myself, "I've outsmarted this machine once, and I can do so again!" At any rate, no Snapple for me today.

Mumbai

2008-12-07T10:22:00.000-08:00

Shopping cart

2008-11-24T15:17:00.000-08:00

In our apartment building, there are three stairs that lead from the lobby up to the hallway that contains the first floor apartments. The other day, I saw my neighbor taking groceries out of her shopping cart (a red "granny" cart) and walking with them down the hall to her apartment, without pulling the cart up those stairs. I decided to try to be nice, and decided to offer to help pull the cart up the stairs, to save her all those trips carrying the groceries. However, apparently I could not complete this task either, and felt kind of dumb. So, she took some more of the grocery bags out of the cart and brought them to her apartment. For some reason, she stayed inside, while I in the meantime discovered that now I could in fact lift the cart up the stairs, so I just lifted it up, wheeled it over to her door, and just left it there. I wonder if she knows who left the cart outside her door...

I find it funny that I offered to help and then couldn't. Lesson in life: never try (name that quote!)

p.s. The full quote is, "Kids, you tried your best and you failed miserably. The lesson is, never try."

And on that pessimistic note, I am off to Whole Foods to buy gluten-free pizza mix. Mmm...non-cell mediated response pizza.

P.s.

2008-11-24T15:14:00.000-08:00

Corrected version:
Some say love, It is a river,
That drowns the tender REED,
Some say love, It is a razor,
That leads your soul to bleed,
Some say love, It is a hunger,
And endless aching need,
I say love, It is a flower,
And you its only SEED,
It's the heart, Afraid of breaking,
That never, Learns to dance,
It's the dream, Afraid of waking,
That never, Takes the chance,
It's the one, Who won't be taken,
Who cannot seem to GIVE,
And the soul, Afraid of dying,
That never, Learns to live,
And the night, Has been too lonely,
And the road, Has been too long,
And you feel, That LOVE is only,
For the lucky, And the strong,
Just remember, In the winter,
Far beneath, The bitter snow,
Lies a seed, That with the suns love,
In the spring, Becomes a rose.

Some say love, It is a river...

2008-11-03T15:12:00.000-08:00

Last night's Family Guy episode actually turned out to be good (for my views on Family Guy, see me in person). One funny scene occurred between Peter and Quagmire in their cars, talking on the cell phone with each other, each not realizing the other as the annoying driver behind/in front of him. Unfortunately, it ruins it when you try to tell it over, though. I tried, at work, and could not quite capture the funniness. Another nice scene occurred also in the car, when Peter suggested that the family sing "a car song," and so they launched into LeAnn Rimes' "Some Say Love." Funny stuff. I actually found the song oddly touching, to the point of looking up the lyrics (feel free to make fun of me, I'll allow it), and thus will post them here.

Some say love, It is a river,

That drowns the tender ring,

Some say love, It is a razor,

That leads your soul to bleed,

Some say love, It is a hunger,

And endless aching need,

I say love, It is a flower,

And you its only seen,

It's the heart, Afraid of breaking,

That never, Learns to dance,

It's the dream, Afraid of waking,

That never, Takes the chance,

It's the one, Who won't be taken,

Who cannot seem to be,

And the soul, Afraid of dying,

That never, Learns to live,

And the night, Has been too lonely,

And the road, Has been too long,

And you feel, That road is only,

For the lucky, And the strong,

Just remember, In the winter,

Far beneath, The bitter snow,

Lies a seed, That with the suns love,

In the spring, Becomes a rose

Then Peter proceeds to say something funny, etc.

Snapple

2008-10-05T15:44:00.000-07:00

This could have been titled, "does G-d not want me to buy a Snapple?", or, alternatively, "maybe I should avoid buying unhealthy foods." As follows:

Today, at work (yes, Sunday) at the later end of the day I had a random craving for a Snapple. Therefore I left my desk in what would be one of several attempts to purchase said Snapple. On my way down the hallway I noticed that I had one dollar bill, some change that added up to forty-five cents, and five pennies. Bear in mind that the Snapple costs $1.50. So I ran back to exchange the five pennies for what I thought was a nickel. I then ran back to the machine, only to discover that it refused to take any dollars (it did not have it in specifically for my dollar; rather it seemed to be broken). Once again, ran back to my desk, and (cleverly, I thought) decided to use the change machine in the copy room to get change for my dollar. However (and here's where my own stupidity steps in), I instead accidentally bought a copy card. I think I am the only one I know who sets out to buy a Snapple and ends up buying a copy card, but whatever. So I then no longer had my dollar but went ahead and traded my five dollar bill into five ones, one of which I put into the change machine, for which I got four quaters. Success, you would think. Turns out that the coin that I mistook for a nickel in fact bears the label of "25 sentinas" for "Republika Philipinas." This I discovered when the Snapple machine refused to accept it. Hence, another trip back to the copy room to exchange another dollar for coins, and then a fourth trip back to the Snapple machine, at which point I finally, at long last, succeeded in the ever-challenging endeavor of obtaining a peach/raspberry Snapple (high fructose corn syrup and all).

In conclusion, it all seems rather trivial in retrospect, but annoying nonetheless...

Giant foods

2008-09-21T13:59:00.000-07:00

Giant Foods

Check it out...though you have to wonder if anyone ever got around to eating these foods, other than the one that went to City Harvest, or were they just for show. On the one hand, a lot of food would go to waste, but on the other hand, who wants to ruin a 1,395 pound gummy bear? I for one wouldn't. Of course, Jerusalem got in on the act with the world's largest kugel (see slide 15). I personally would like to see some gluten-free foods breaking some records. More likely, I can see as the next big project a giant M & M. Or a Rice Crispy treat (points to you if you identify the episode from which I got that idea).

Sunday

2008-09-15T10:20:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had a very busy day. First, I caught the end of Broadway on Broadway. During the last song (New York, New York), confetti rained down on us, which was cool, albeit environmentally disconcerting. I have pictures from my cell phone camera of both the confetti falling and the pile it created on the street, and maybe I will remember to upload and post. Then I went to Citibank and then bought a Snapple (strawberry/kiwi) from a vendor. Somewhere in between those two events I inadvertantly lied to a police officer, but since the story makes me look stupid, I will not be telling it here. Then I had some time before my appointment at the Genius Bar at the Apple store, so I sat in Borders and read an entire volume of the Gossip Girl series. You can make fun of me if you'd like. Really, feel free. In fact, I'll be the first to make fun of myself on this one. Then I walked over to the Apple store, where the guy at the Genius bar (why is it called that?) taught my iPod how to synch again. Now my iPod synchs just fine, except that it left out all three seasons of Arrested Development, my one season of Scrubs, and most of my Simpsons episodes. Minor details. Then I got a call from a friend inviting me to some sort of Gershwin something at 72nd street and afterward Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare on the Hudson) with another friend. We missed the Gershwin event but we got to see Romeo and Juliet. This brought back memories of high school English. Predictably, it also reminded me of Milhouse saying, "How could this happen? We started out like Romeo and Juliet but it ended up in tragedy" (episode number 8F22). Then finally I got to go home, at which point I had to clean some of our apartment.

U2

2008-09-11T12:12:00.000-07:00

Has anyone seen that episode of Scrubs in which Eliot accidentally says, "I love you too" to her current boyfriend, when actually she was saying "I love (the band) U2," coincidentally at the same time at which her boyfriend had just said "I love you?" Well, I did something like that today. Luckily, it didn't involve my mistakenly saying I love you to someone, but it did happen that I said one thing and it got misconstrued as another, thus reminding me of the U2/you too phenomenon. I was talking with a professor and we were discussing Revel's new policy of handing in our papers, and he mentioned that a student of his just emailed him asking if she could hand in a paper five years outstanding. At the same time, he went ahead and de-magnetized a book, which I had just done, so I said, I did that already. He laughed, and I couldn't figure out why, until I realized that he thought that I meant my paper from two years earlier! This wouldn't at all matter except that something similar had just happened to me earlier that day, when someone laughed at something I had said and I realized that they must have thought that I had meant something else. Why does this keep happening to me?

The Yes Woman

2008-08-28T20:18:00.000-07:00

Overheard in the office (today, at work)-
Me: Is it just me, or is "such and such random oberservation of life" so true?
My co-worker: Yes.
Me: Is it really true?
My co-worker: Yes.
Me: Really, it is true, isn't it?
My co-worker: Yes.
Me: Are you just saying yes to everything that I say?
My co-worker: Yes.

Extra points if you guess what "such and such random observation about life" was...

HTML practice

2008-08-05T09:25:00.000-07:00

Dream

2008-07-10T10:15:00.000-07:00

Last night I had the following puzzling dream: I found myself at a restaurant called The Olive Garden, which strikes me as weird given that I have neither seen nor heard about this place in years, so how did it find its way into my dream? Finding myself in a non-kosher restaurant, I decided to try to order the least possible non-kosher food, so I ordered noodles (gluten allergy notwithstanding). Then I looked over at what my friend had ordered, Israeli salad (the very same salad that in real life I recently ordered at My Most Favorite) and fish, and thought, I should have ordered that salad because that would be less non-kosher than would be the noodles. The fish, on the other hand, wouldn't. Then I found myself back in my room at home, and my parents told me that my blog (this blog, that is) had been chosen to appear on T.V., so I needed to write some more blog posts. Then suddenly the floor had glass on it, and I was afraid that I would step on the glass.

Feel free to psychoanalyze this dream for me...

Minute multiplication

2008-07-03T16:48:00.000-07:00

Some, e.g. Lawrence Summers, make the claim that women inherently excel less in math. But then I also have heard the argument that the educational system does not teach math to women as well as it does to men. At first, I thought that people were just making this up, but then I thought back to my own childhood education and realized that this might have been the case. In third grade, upon learning multiplication, we got these quizzes called "minute multiplication." It consisted of thirty multiplication problems, and the trick was to finish them as quickly as possible. Sometimes I would finish second or third, but I never could beat this one kid, a boy, who almost always came in first. We can leave aside the point that it might just have been a coincidence that the kid that kept winning was a boy, which would do away with the whole problem in the first place. Looking back, I realize, the test might have tested speed in solving multiplication problems, but it failed to test for analytical skills, i.e. understanding the concept behind multiplication, which I thought I knew fine. Maybe the boy just ended up being faster, but maybe I would have done better at a different kind of test. So maybe there is something to the idea that math should get taught in a way that works for everyone. Then again, I kind of did like those minute math tests, even though I never did finish first.

p.s. Websites that discuss gender and math

A.P.B.

2008-07-03T15:54:00.001-07:00

So, I hereby would like to place an A.P.B for a male, caucasian, wearing a yarmulke (possibly seruga?), last seen in West Side Judaica yesterday. Here's why. Yesterday afternoon I stopped by West Side Judaica to buy a wedding present for some friends (mazal tov, Y and R!). While there, I happened to have noticed a guy who seemed really nice, based on the way he interacted with the store people, etc. But then he left, without my getting a chance to talk to him! Now, if it turns out that he is married, then I will feel like an idiot. But if not, I can add it to my list of regrets (see prior post). Can we find this guy? I did notice which books he bought. He shouldn't prove that difficult to track down, right? Btw for a funny picture of a needle in a haystack, see here.

Bus story

2008-07-02T18:43:00.000-07:00

Back to the bus story, I did end up sitting next to this little old lady who started talking to me. Turns out she is 94 and was on her way to shop at Macy's. She started telling me about how in the olden days, people used to dress much more modestly. This of course reminded me of the Simpsons episode in which perhaps Grandma Bouvier (or perhaps Agnes Skinner? Little help?) tells of how she once was arrested for indecent exposure- her ankle was showing.

Anti-Semites

2008-07-02T18:32:00.000-07:00

Today, I found myself at Fifth Avenue and needed to take a bus across town. As I stood at the corner, I saw the bus arrive, made a run for it, and just made it (with the lady in front of me having to knock on the bus door to have it open). The bus did not have its air conditioning on, prompting a guy at the back of the bus to yell out, "turn on the air or I want my two dollars back." I then thought that I heard the guy across from me mutter in response, "must be a Jew." Just in case I hadn't heard him properly, he repeated, more loudly this time, "must be a Jew."

This comes after another recent event, when I walked by a homeless guy and he proclaimed, "heil hitler" in my direction. I am not even sure how he could tell that I am Jewish.

Hermann Cohen

2008-07-01T08:52:00.000-07:00

At work, I ran (not literally) into a professor who teaches philosophy, specifically a course about Buber, Hermann Cohen, and Kaplan. While I was talking to him about printing out some articles, I figured that I would take the chance to get a free philosophy lecture in the meantime. The reading that I was printing out was from Hermann Cohen's "Germanism and Judaism," so I asked about this. It turns out that Hermann Cohen thought that Jews and Germans shared an inherent spiritual connection, and that the two societies should be connected (my paraphrase). Some anti-Semitism existed back then, but not as much as would develop later. Also, German culture was highly cultured at the time. There are also other interesting aspects of Herman Cohen's philosophy. And that is my "al regel achat" lesson on Hermann Cohen. I had never really encountered the ideas of Hermann Cohen before, so I found this interesting.
p.s. Hermann Cohen is not to be confused with Herman Cohen II, producer, Herman Jay Cohen, diplomat or Herman Jacob Cohen, mathematician.

Regrets

2008-06-20T11:10:00.000-07:00

I have an annoying story to tell. Those of you who know me will chalk this up to my typical "case of the beanses" (ha!) but seriously, this story involves me not having said something that, had I said it, would have been so funny. It goes as follows: at work, a very right-wing looking man came over to the circulation desk. I won't bother with the details, but the exchange resulted in my needing to type in Hebrew the word "Ketuvot," as in mesechet Ketovot. Upon this, he said, "it's spelled with a kaf (כ)." To this I could not help but reply, "I know." But I could have taken this one step further. What I really should have said was, "I learned that mesechta." How funny would that have been? It would have been hysterical! I feel so sad that I missed out on that moment! Why did I not think quickly enough? I think that the thought lingered in the back of my mind, but that I did not react quickly enough to turn it into a complete sentence. Sad but true.

And so my right-wing friend, if you are reading this (which you're not), not only can I spell Ketuvot but I learned it as well.

p.s. This reminds me of the time that a Rabbi in one of my classes asked, "...and what does this remind you of?" For some reason, the word "pruzbul" popped into my head, but then I thought, "that has nothing to do with what we are learning." Turns out that, after a pause during which nobody answered, my teacher said, "it's like pruzbul." Sad but true.

Good deal

2008-06-20T05:44:00.000-07:00

Rembrandt Thought Fake Worth Millions.

...start scouring those auction houses. You never know.

Hypocricy

2008-06-20T05:37:00.000-07:00

Just something that recently has bothered me- religious hypocrisy. There are people who dress a certain way, thereby claiming a certain level of religiosity, but when it comes to treating people properly, are negligent. Even more problematic are those who claim a certain level of religiosity, all the while behind closed doors acting very differently. Just something that has been on my mind, so I thought I'd vent...

2008-06-20T05:35:00.000-07:00

Talk about רשע וטוב לו: Lottery winner.

Enough gazpacho for all!

2008-06-18T11:17:00.000-07:00

The cafeteria at work has started serving gazpacho for the summer. This should immediately bring to mind the famous episode "Lisa the Vegetarian" (quite possibly one of my favorites). In her campaign against meat, Lisa attempts to dissuade the attendees of Homer's BBBQ (the extra B is for BYOBB, that extra B is a typo) from eating meat. Instead she says, "Good news, everyone! You don't have to eat meat! I made enough Gazpacho for all...It's tomato soup, served ice cold!"

My Science Chavrutah idea

2008-06-18T07:33:00.000-07:00

At some point the idea occurred to me that, why do we not have science chavrutahs, much in the same way that we have Torah learning chavrutahs? After all, science serves a pretty important role in the world. In fact, Rambam considers scientific knowledge as a means by which to become closer to G-d. Knowing science should be a pretty important priority. Why does it not happen that two people schedule a time and a place, and sit down and learn, say, genetics? Genes are important; we should learn more about them. Or we could learn string theory, using Brian Greene's "The Elegant Universe" as our text. If I were the type of person to start trends, I would start this trend. As it stands, I don't see doing this in the foreseeable future, though I do find intriguing the idea of pulling out the old "Molecular Biology of the Cell, Fourth Edition," and going through it at a rate of two pages per day (l'havdil).

One fish, two fish...

2008-06-18T06:59:00.000-07:00

A while ago, while at one of the hardware stores near Columbia, I noticed that the store sells gimmicky sink drainers, ones that have pictures painted on the metal section at the center. I saw that the store sold one that has a strawberry, red, and a fish, blue. I thought, "how convenient for my kashrut color-coordination scheme (red=meat, blue=dairy)" and so I purchased these two items. However, after some time, sadly, the blue part came off of the fish, such that it now remains just a plain metal fish. I went back to replace it, only to discover that the store now only sells the fish in red, which would defeat my purpose. Yesterday, I stopped in to the store and ended up having a conversation with the store owner about said fish. It started when he saw me looking at the drainers and said something like, can I help you find a drainer, and I (since I didn't see any of the fish) said something like, oh, I was just looking to see if you had the fish-shaped drainers, and he said that right now they are out but that they can order, and so I said, "well last time I only saw it in red, not blue," to which he replied, "no, we stock both."

And thus: red fish, blue fish.

There clearly is not much point to this story (Bart: Dad, what's the point of this story? Homer: I like stories), only I find it funny that I had this little amusing interaction about fish-shaped drainers of all things, and that I made a point requesting specifically a blue fish. It reminds me of being young and vyying for say the purple lollypop or the red ices or some such.

P.s. Of course then there was that one kid who, the odd one out, always liked the orange flavor, thereby making things better for the rest of us-- luv ya, R!.

#254

2008-06-17T07:28:00.001-07:00

The number 254 has been my favorite number ever since I wrote my senior thesis (college). I wrote about an anti-cancer drug called taxol (not to be confused with tax law, which is what people sometimes hear the first time around). Taxol targets the cell's microtubles, which are involved in cell division. The role that the microtubles play in cell division involves behavior termed dynamic instability- subunits of the microtuble constantly break off and reattach to the microtuble, thus creating the motion that pulls the chromosomes apart during cell division. This dynamic instability is made possible by the inherent structure of the subunit, tubulin. Tubulin consists of two segments, alpha and beta tubulin. The protein sequence of each segment numbers approx. four hundred amino acids. At amino acid number 254, there is a significant difference between the alpha and the beta tubulin. This difference affects the way in which a molecule called GTP interacts with each segment, such that alpha tubulin remains attached to beta tubulin but beta tubulin can detach from the next tubulin molecule. Because it can detach, dynamic instability arises. If you would like to see pretty pictures of this process, let me know, because I have some on my computer at home. And that is the story of why I like the number 254, which, in case you were wondering, I mention only because the number came up recently in the context of something else (I did not just randomly decide to wax philosophical on the number 254; there was in fact a reason). Which leaves me to wonder, does anyone else have favorite numbers, or is this just a me thing?

2008-06-16T10:01:00.000-07:00

Recently I had a rather annoying encounter with a particular individual, male, and therefore, perhaps unfairly, made the following blanket generalization: "why are all men such complete idiots?" However, let it be known that there is some justice in the world, for shortly thereafter, while I was eating lunch, a nice/cute guy whom I had never met before sat down next to me, and we proceeded to have a nice/pleasant conversation, thus restoring my faith in men (or at least the ones that aren't jerks). I think that this story illustrates two points: 1. sometimes things do go right, and 2. you can never know how doing one simple kind act can make a difference to someone, even someone whom you encounter at random...

p.s. Here perhaps is a relevant prior post, dug up from the archives.

The Odessy (ha, ha)

2008-06-16T07:17:00.000-07:00

Lately I have been feeling bothered by the problem of theodicy, or more so than usual. I thought that it would be interesting to see the outlooks found in the ideas of the Gnostics, because someone had told me that they deal with the idea of G-d and evil, but when I looked more into the matter, it turns out that they believe in two gods--the true, good G-d and the evil demiurge--which, if I recall my Rambam correctly, is heretical. So now I am still stuck. I know that there are lots of answers out there to reconcile the problem of good and evil, but somehow I don't feel that these answers sufficiantly solve the question- I am still left with the feeling that the problem still exists. A little help?

p.s. You will note that I avoided using Wikipedia in the links; I did so purposely, and instead used more direct sources.

The Counterfeiters

2008-06-16T05:48:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I saw the movie The Counterfeiters. I highly recommend seeing this movie, if you feel up to seeing a Holocaust movie. As Holocaust movies go, it does not have as much violence as some, though obviously it does have a lot of drama. The story, based on true events, involves a guy named Saloman (Solly) Sorowich, a guy named Burger, and some others, who get taken to Sachsenhausen but receive special treatment because they have a skill that becomes highly useful to the Nazis- Solly is a highly skilled counterfeiter and the others have skills in this area as well. First, the team forges the British pound. The Nazis plan not only to use the money to fund themselves, but plan to use it against the British by over-inflating the British economy. In addition, they threaten to kill five of the team members if the group doesn't come up with a way to forge the U.S. dollar. The movie raises the larger moral issue of whether it was right for these men to go along with the Nazis, possibly endangering the lives of others, or to rebel. The main tension over this arises between Solly and Burger. Over Shavuot, I heard a shiur that addressed this very question (the speaker had seen the movie during a flight back from Israel), which brought various Jewish sources that relate to this type of issue, and since the speaker referenced the movie, it was interesting to see it firsthand. Also interesting was the cinematography, which had a dark and somewhat grainy quality and thereby created a certain tone for the movie.

This is what happens when we are bored at work...

2008-06-13T12:44:00.000-07:00

...we discover quizfarm.com. It tells you a lot about yourself. Thus far, my co-worker has been a banana (what fruit are you?), a nerd (what's your high school stereotype?), a lawyer (what will be your profession?), and a British soldier (Allies or Axis?), and she drives a Vespa (what is your dream car?). Moreover, in response to "what Wicked character are you most like?", she discovered that she shares some similarities with Boq. In my case, my name apparantly is Tiffany or Flemmer, I am the Gap, and I am the pitch black flavor of Mountain Dew, for reasons known only to the makers of this quiz.

In other news, we discovered that people have been making money off of selling air and such...see here.

Tangled web

2008-06-11T13:53:00.000-07:00

Today at work something highly ackward/pretty darn funny happened. Someone came in to work with some news, to which I said something really dumb, but luckily only to my co-worker. The person in question, however, came over and asked us about our reaction. So the converstaion turned to a discussion on my co-worker's reaction. For some dumb reason, as this person was walking away, I said to my co-worker, "...not as dumb as what I said." I hadn't realized that the person had overheard me say this. So, in repsonse, the person said, "what was the dumb thing that you said?" So I said, "oh, nothing..." But then there was a silence that I felt needed to be filled, so for some dumb reason, I spoke up. On the spur of the moment, I decided to make up some lie about what I had said. So I said "oh, such and such." Unfortunately, "such and such" turned out to be just as dumb and embarrassing as my original statement! So, in spite of my best efforts, I sounded dumb anyway. Lesson in life: try not to lie. You will note that this all arose out of the fact that I lied. As the saying goes, "what a tangled web we weave..."

My cab ride

2008-06-05T06:26:00.000-07:00

Today I again took a cab to work, and the cab driver had the radio tuned to a Spanish radio station. From what I gathered, getting the gist of it, it involved the hosts saying words that contestants then had to guess. I think that the words were "cacaseta," "ripporeto/a," and "cacalogo," or something like that. If anyone has any ideas as to what these might mean, feel free to let me know. Everytime a contestant got a word wrong, which happened all three times, the announcers would yell, "incorrecto!" with much excitement. Funny stuff.

Options

2008-06-02T19:18:00.000-07:00

Today, as I am standing in the shampoo aisle of Duane Reade contemplating the twenty different options in front of me, a random guy walking by says to me: "they should make only one..."

He has a point, given that it takes me approx. another ten minutes to make my selection...

P.s.

2008-06-02T12:45:00.000-07:00

P.s. Now at work we are in the process of the "guess how old we are" game (like at an amusement park, but without the prizes).
P.p.s. With respect to the title of the previous post, name that line...

My name was Brian McGee...

2008-06-02T12:39:00.000-07:00

Today at work one co-worker was telling us about her birthday, which involved her having used a fake ID. This prompted me to say, "some of us don't need fake IDs." This for some reason ended up being funny. It also made us (me and my other co-worker) feel old.

Steinschneider and the 1,400 books

2008-06-02T08:46:00.000-07:00

At some point recently, I posted a link to the Wikipedia page that listed the staggering number of books published by Neusner. I knew though that I had read somewhere that someone had written more, 1,400 books/articles. It turns out that this honor goes to Moritz Steinschneider. This link leads to the JTS library website, and you also can see an exhibit about Steinschneider at JTS.

The movie, or the planet?

2008-05-30T12:55:00.000-07:00

Today at work my co-worker just said, "we found Bambi in the restricted room." To this I replied, "the deer, or the book?" Ha!

My Israel Experience, part III (re: college)

2008-05-30T12:26:00.001-07:00

In my last post, I said that I would explain more about how my Israel experience related to my going to college. So, here goes.
In high school, I felt really concerned about getting into a good school. Thank G-d, I got into a school that made me really happy, and I was really excited about going there.
However, I did feel slighly concerned about going off to a non-religious school and finding myself in a non-religious environment. I am not even quite sure what I was worried about, and it turns out of course that my concerns were unfounded, but at the time I found myself thinking about the issue a lot. I even entertained the idea of going to Stern, because I felt slightly guilty about not going there, but then I thought, who thinks that necessarily the right thing to do is to go to Stern?
So I went off to Israel with this in mind. What I was hoping for in Israel was that some of these issues would get discussed. I thought of it as a chance to hear, "strategies for maintaining a successful religious life," for a time when surrounded by a non-religious environment.
Unfortunately, it turned out that my school didn't particularly encourage the idea of us going to colleges that weren't Stern. Correction- they seemed to have a problem with the idea of going to an Ivy League school, whereas going to other non-Stern colleges seemed fine.
I was made to feel that going to a secular college is wrong. It's even funny that I now call it "secular college." It's just plain college! In fact, it's the Jewish colleges that stand out- why don't we single them out with an adjective?
One incident stands out specifically in my mind. A teacher of ours, in one of the "nice ideas couched in sources" classes, showed us something written by I can't remember whom. It said something about how it's bad to go to college, because students go off to college, learn apikorsut, and become not religious. I typically didn't speak in class, but at that point I felt that I really had to say something. That source refers to the 1800s in Russia! There was no such thing as Hillel, or Wednesday night learning, or Shabbat on campus! Moreover, the people back then who went off to college in all likelihood were people who didn't intend to maintain a strong religious connection in the first place.
So I felt bothered.
Lo and behold, I arrived at college. There I had some of the most meaningful religious experiences. I had a chavrutah with whom I completed Rambam's Sefer Mada, I learned Gemarah and Halacha in Kollel, and I davened in a really nice shul with beautiful davening.
Moreover, I encountered the world. I met people from diverse backgrounds. I learned Plato. College was awesome.
All the while, I remembered something that one of my Israel teachers said. In the course of giving me a Purim bracha, he proclaimed, "you will do well in college. Your soul will suffer, but you will do well."
Leaving aside the matter of whether anyone should ever tell anyone that their soul will suffer, especially someone who barely knew me, my soul did anything but suffer. There were the friends that I made and the spiritual experiences that I experienced on campus. There was the knowledge that I was aquiring and the new ideas that I was encountering. It served as the antidote to spending a year cloistered away.
One last point- apparantly the year after mine, the school found it amusing to hand out T-shirts that contained some joke about not going to an Ivy League school. All I have to say is that people work long and hard to get into a good school, not to mention that our parents work to send us to school, and what right do they have to interfere with that? Now I may sound bitter, and clearly I feel annoyed, but I find this as a common phenomenon in many of the Israel schools, and isn't it about time that someone protests?

My Israel Experience, part II

2008-05-14T07:21:00.000-07:00

Well, as promised, the polemic will continue. I am finding this exercise theraputic. I've decided to create a list, in bullet points, of some of the issues that, in retrospect, bothered me. These are things that bothered me about my specific school, not about Israel in general, and I complain because maybe other people also had these same issues.

Some of the students were marginalized. That is to say, there were core groups that constituted the mainstream of the school. These were the students that set the social tone of the school. That's fine- every school has its cliques, and that is to be expected. However, I definately think that more effort could have been put in to try to make everyone feel included.
I got overlooked. I spent the entire year feeling very quiet. Whether due to the fact that I felt a little overwhelmed to find myself in a new social environment, or whether due to the fact that I didn't feel that I connected well to the students of this school, I found myself feeling sort of introverted, thinking my own thoughts but not really contributing to the overall group. Whether this was a flaw within myself or whether the surrounding environment was not the kind of place where my ideas fit in, what bothers me now is that not once during the entire year did any of the teachers pull me aside and say, "we've noticed that you seem quiet. How's everything going? How are you adjusting so far?" Maybe I am wrong- maybe nobody noticed my quietness, maybe it was only something that I felt but that did not show, or maybe I put on a happy face. But either way, I don't feel that at any time during the year did any of the teachers check in on me to see how I was doing.
My prior two points deal with social issues. One could argue that these issues would have emerged in any of the schools, and that although it could have been a more open environment, it wasn't too bad. My next point regards academics, and here I think the argument is more cogent.
The school presented itself as far less narrow-minded than it actually turned out to be. My ideas didn't fit in, that is to say, "hashkafically" I probably would have done better elsewhere. But I had no way of knowing this, because only when I got there did I encounter ideas that frankly now that I look back were pretty terrible. An example of this shows up on the school's website (which, back in my day, didn't exist. It sure would have helped a lot). "Da’at Torah: What are the differing approaches as to the parameters of da’at Torah? To what extent is a person allowed to, or encouraged to, engage in autonomous decision making?" Likewise, "understanding how to strive for shleimut." At the time, I sort of went along with these types of classes. Only now, with a college educated mind, do I realize that this type of thinking can be not only inhibitory to one's academic growth but also detrimental to one's psyche. Why should there even be a hava amina that I don't exercise personal authority? Of course I do! And in terms of shleimut, what does that even mean?
So, as you might have gathered, the school turned out to be less intellectual than both it claimed to be and than would have been good for me personally. For some, it nevertheless served them well. For others of us though, it would have helped to have had what someone has described as, "that breath of fresh air." The term "fluff" gets thrown around a lot, and while I certainly would not go so far as to call this school "fluffy," I tend to think of it more as "grounded fluff," that is, nice ideas couched in sources. I would like to clarify, though: that isn't to say that there wasn't some serious learning going on, as some of the courses were in fact intellectually challenging, including the Halacha, Jewish Philosophy, and Parshanut classes. (Funnily enough, one of the topics of one the Jewish Identity courses listed in the catalogue discusses "fluff versus hard core).
Upon returning home, I learned of the term "hypersocialized," which I feel aptly applies here.

Well, once again I have written a lot. However, there is one crucial point that I have largely ignored, and that is the issue of attending a secular college. I have a lot to say on the issue, as was the case even at the time, so hopefully in one of my next posts I can say something about that.

And for those of you who hung out with me during my Israel year, you definately would remember me being happy, because in many ways I loved just the very fact of being in Israel, but I just have decided to take a step back and to allow myself to be more critically analytical than I would have let myself be at the time. I felt some of this when I first got back and started college, but I never really had a full-fledged discussion about it, so I figure that now is the time...

...

2008-05-13T14:36:00.001-07:00

Well, in my last post I went on a lengthy rant regarding my post high school Israel experience. I plan to continue this rant, but not right now. Since I have last written, recent events include getting free ice cream at Haagen Daaz- vanilla honey flavor, to raise awareness about the honeybees, who apparantly are becoming endangered (this info. from a patron at work, though I have not seen it on their website). I also watched final Jeopardy, and part of a Family Guy in which Stewie tries to be nice. Some comment on the episode made me laugh, but I can't remember what. Good times, good times. And speaking of which, Y, if you are reading this, Mazal Tov!

My Israel Experience, part I

2008-05-13T10:42:00.000-07:00

There has been a problem on my mind, and I have been encouraged by a friend of mine to write about it, with the thought that many others might have had such experiences, and therefore there could be a forum for expression.
This post relates to the post-high school year that I spent in Israel. As of late, I have been reevaluating the experience and viewing it through a more critical lens.

Throughout high school, I had absolutely no intention of spending a post-high school year learning in Israel. Though my principal mentioned the idea, and in fact encouraged it for as many students as possible, I just did not see the value of such an experience. I placed a far more stronger focus on getting into a good college. However, come twelfth grade my attitude somewhat changed, as I discovered that most of my friends intended to spend a year in Israel. One might view it as though I succumbed to peer pressure, but I more thought of it as the fact that all of my friends seemed to be going off to a foreign country to have a good time, and I wanted in.
The choice of which school to attend became complicated. Originally, I had my sights set on one particular school, but that school ended up closing. If you were to ask me today, I could not quite be sure what in fact drew me to that school, which (as you will soon see) raises the larger issue of, on what exactly was I basing my choice? I think that in the case of this school the selling point was that it seemed comfortable, materialistically speaking.
Then came the big question- of the remaining schools, which was I to attend? Again, bear in mind that since I was not about to take a trip to Israel to visit any of these schools, I was working solely on hearsay, whether from former students or from the heads of the schools themselves.
I considered one school, one that according to my principal was completely not the right school for me. To explain just how clueless I was to the whole system, I completely did not understand why. I guess that I just took his word for it, especially when it turned out that I did not get accepted to that particular school (for the best, obviously), although, ironically, I did get accepted into two of the more competitive schools. One of these schools I did rule out, again with only a vague concept of what was what, but when I did visit one of my friends at that school, I in fact found myself confirming my decision. Friends-wise, and probably learning-wise too, it would not have served as a good match.
That left one school. Actually, correction- that left two schools. And this brings us to the crux of the matter. There were two schools that I could have attended: one, the one to which I had been accepted, and one, to which I had not applied, but for which I would have been offered a spot. Years later--and only years later--did I realize that I picked the wrong one.
One school, as I see it now, was open-minded, accepting, and friendly; the other, provincial, elitist, and exclusive. My principal thought that I should attend the former, whereas I, to my regret, thought to attend the latter.
I did in fact have my reasons. For one thing, many of my friends planned to attend this school, whereas I knew absolutely nobody attending the other. For another, this school had a good reputation and its alumni spoke highly of it. The other school was known as "progressive" and to me, this seemed bad.

There are always many factors that go into making such decisions, and obviously now at this point it remains too late. However, I am finding it helpful to vent about this, in the hope of feeling better but also in the hope of contributing to the dialogue about the problems that exist within the Israel seminary system.

While making this choice, many issues arose- issues of which school seemed the best, of who was going where, of at what religious level the school was.
Then of course arose the issue of Gemarah. More acurately, it barely arose. I remained completely ignorant to the fact that women's study of Gemarah served as one of the biggest issues within women's study. On the one hand, perhaps I should have remained in my blissful ignorance about this social injustice, thereby removing myself from feeling any sense of stigma or inequality. However, as the more sophisticated view would maintain, I definately should have been made aware of the issue, so that I could tackle it head on. If women were told not to learn Gemarah, then learn Gemarah I would!

At the school that I chose not to attend, Gemarah was a large focus of the curriculum, and was known for such, in fact prompting the joke, "how many [Yeshiva's name] girls does it take to change a light bulb? Two, one to change it and one to check in the Gemarah." Now, I just made that joke up because I saw the real one on the internet, forgot it, and now can't find the original again. But you get my point.

The school that I did choose to attend, however, did not place such a strong focus on Gemarah. That isn't to say that it didn't have it altogether. They did, but in a limited sense. A Gemarah track was offered, but it was not mandatory. In this way, students who elected not to take Gemarah failed to gain these important skills that can only be gained by long term Gemarah learning. Other courses included snippets of Gemarah, but its failure to place it at the focus, to me, in hindsight, seems like a lacking. Of course, I failed to realize this at the time. Only now, standing from where I am now, does this seem important. But ok.
I mentioned before some of my reasons for wanting to spend the year in Israel. I guess that there was more to it than that...I thought that by becoming emersed in Jewish texts, I could fortify myself for the upcoming forage out into the big wide world, the secular world of college. Moreover, although we had Jewish courses in High School, I thought that my education could use some butressing. I also remember being struck by a remark made by a friend of mine- "it'll be so fun, once we get to Israel we can decorate our rooms to be all cool." The idealized campiness of the statement appealed to me.

This is becoming rather lengthy, so I think that I will continue it in a later post...

Holocaust Rememberance Day

2008-04-30T20:31:00.000-07:00

Tonight I attended a lecture for Yom HaShoah. The speaker, a Holocaust survivor, discussed his experience in Auschwitz. This particular speaker painted a vivid portrait in such extreme detail. Hearing the speech served as a very valuable and crucial opportunity, but, at the same time, was extremely difficult. I still feel shaken from it. The speaker twice, once during the lecture and once as we went over to speak to him afterward, said that he no longer has to worry about being in hell, because he has already been there. To this I feel that there are no adequate words to say. Also as part of the program was a slide show, which consisted of photos set to background music, one of those haunting Yiddish tunes on the violin that never fails to make me cry. There also was a candle-lighting ceremony, and Keil Malei Rachamim, with the added text for commemorating the Holocaust.

The following is a link to a YouTube video of an Israeli survivor telling part of her story: Holocaust testimony. Interesting to note is a comment by "hansoa." It's difficult to believe that someone would ever write such a thing, but there it is.

Popcorn kernels everywhere

2008-04-17T07:48:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I was invited to a Chametz party. In preparation for said party, I planned to bring a bag of pretzels. As I reached for this bag of pretzels, a bag of popcorn kernels, which unbeknownst to me existed in my kitchen, fell down. Since the bag was for some stupid reason open, said kernels fell out and scattered all over the place. Let me spell that out more clearly. Two days before Pesach, almost an entire bag of kitnyot fell all over my floor. Oddly, I felt strangely calm. All I thought was, "great, almost an entire bag of kitnyot is right now all over my floor. I had better get the vacuum cleaner." Vacuuming the kernels was like playing some sort of video game in which you have to zap all of the bad guys. Zap. Zap. Zap. Now the floor is super clean. However, it was a close call, and a traumatic experience for all involved (me, and the popcorn kernels).

In other news, a Meals-on-Wheels meal for the elderly mysteriously appeared at my front door the other day. The address label had a different name on it, but my address. I called the company and the person left me a message telling me that I should either keep it or give it to someone who needs it, because they couldn't really send UPS to pick it up. Before I could do either of these things, it disappeared just as mysteriously as it had appeared.

And that is how exciting my life has been lately. Really, it's just been that exciting.

The Cab Driver Who Hates Me

2008-04-16T08:02:00.000-07:00

So I think that this morning I got cursed out. I know it sounds strange, and perhaps I am just imagining things, but I could have sworn that my cab driver muttered something not so nice under his breath. I took a cab to work this morning because my cell phone alarm didn't go off and I ignored my radio alarm because that was the one that I set for earlier in case I would get up earlier. As an aside, the cab driver kept honking at other cars for no reason, and driving in between two lanes (going down Broadway). On my way out, I gave him a 20 to pay because that was the only bill that I had. He gave me back two fives, so I said, "usually I pay eight." It was at this point that he muttered something under his breath. Then I said, "what?" and he said, "oh, nothing."
Just for the record, it isn't that I cared about the two dollars. It was the principle of the matter. It was annoying enough to have to pay for a cab because the alarm didn't go off. I wanted to pay as little as possible. Moreover, I usually pay eight. In fact, they usually ask, "how much do you usually pay?" and I say, "eight." Ok, fine, it was also that I did want my two dollars. I can be annoying like that sometimes.
So now I am left with the discomforting feeling that somewhere out there in this great city, there is a cab driver who really doesn't like me...

Scary

2008-04-13T12:17:00.001-07:00

http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/1729.htm

Fun Helicopter Game

2008-04-11T13:20:00.000-07:00

Again, that's Fun Helicopter Game.

Waterfall revisited

2008-04-11T12:19:00.000-07:00

A while ago, I wrote a post about how I had seen in the street a giant waterfall that resulted from an open hydrant. Now at work there also is a waterfall. Well, it is more of a fountain of sorts. Every time I pass by it, and I hear the gushing sound, I think, "wow, what a waste of water." Seriously, we could feed a starving country instead of running that water. Or, we could just give them the water, which they probably would want.
While I am on the topic, another thing that bothers me is Times Square. Now, I don't object to all of Times Square. After all, the lights are pretty and, in addition, attact tourists, who give us money. However, what I do think is that we are wasting so much electricity! Why do we need ALL of that light? Wouldn't just some of those lights suffice? By shutting down even just one giant screen T.V., we could probably save enough money to feed a small needy country.

And those are my gripes (for now)...

Mark your calendars.

2008-04-08T18:19:00.000-07:00

Birkhat HaChamah falls out one year from today, namely April 8, 2009 (14 Nissan 5769).

The Simpsons Already Did It...

2008-04-07T08:10:00.000-07:00

For a great Simpsons-related South Park episode, sent to me by a friend, watch The Simpsons Already Did It.

Just for the record, to those who thought otherwise, I do not have a crush on Kyle! Ok, fine, that is a lie. I have a tiny crush on Kyle.

Isn't he cute?

If he were on Facebook, I would friend him and then stalk him, like by looking at all of his pictures, etc. If he were on Frumster, I would join Frumster and stalk him there.

My family has started cleaning for Pesach. We are yekkes after all. So, yesterday I went home to try to be helpful. Everything was very uneventful, other than that half of our dairy Pesach silverware mysteriously disappeared, only to just as mysteriously reappear. Then we ordered Chinese food.

Ok, that's about all that I have to post.

Jeepney = Sheirut

2008-04-04T13:51:00.000-07:00

7-Foot Python Hitches Ride on Bus

...these "Jeepneys" kind of sound like Israeli sheiruts.

Funny...

2008-04-03T18:21:00.000-07:00

I just told a (not so) funny joke in my head, and I decided to subject you all to the funniness as well. I basically was contemplating selling my entire kitchen for Pesah, since I don't really need any of it. But then I realized, I do actually in fact need the kitchen sink. Hence, 'everything but the kitchen sink.' Hah! Get it? Ok, I do give you permission to make fun of me on that one...after all, I did decide to go ahead and publish this one.

The Rosh and his Beit Midrash

2008-04-02T11:15:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I attended a lecture titled (not entitled!) "The Rosh ha-Ashkenazi and his Beit-Midrash in Toledo." The Rosh (acronym for Rabbeinu Asher) originally lived in Germany but then moved to Toledo, Spain, in 1305. The lecture's main thesis focused on the effect of the arrival of the Rosh in Toledo. Apparently, Torah learning in Toledo had reached a lull (the lecturer even used the term "backwater") after the death of R' Meir Abulafia in 1242(5?). The Rosh's arrival reinvigorated the Jewish community. After the Rosh's death, the Rosh's son Judah took over the role of community leader and Rosh Yeshiva. We have an autobiography from Judah, which is rare. One of the Rosh's other sons, Jacob, wrote the Tur. All in all, an informative and educational lecture.

2008-04-01T07:31:00.000-07:00

April Fools'

Museumofhoaxes.com

More on April Fools'

Is the phone half full or half empty?

2008-04-01T07:09:00.000-07:00

Verizon was able to succeed in transferring approx. half of my camera phone photos from my old phone to my new phone. So the question I pose is, do you think that the new phone is half empty, or half full?

The Great Gatsby/The Simpsons

2008-03-28T07:23:00.000-07:00

While I was looking up a Simpsons quote, I came across something more educational. It's my favorite quote from the Great Gatsby:

In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since."Whenever you feel like criticizing any one," he told me, "just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had." (The Great Gatsby- Chapter 1, opening words).

Not that the Simpsons is not educational, just so we are clear on that. In fact, I have learned a great deal from watching it. For instance, did you know that JFK wrote a book called Profiles in Courage? I do, now. And that donuts and beer are bad for you? Et cetra.

הארי פוטר

2008-03-27T13:49:00.001-07:00

I am currently reading Harry Potter in Hebrew. It's really a lot of fun. So far, among other words, I have learned that owl is ינשוף. Badger is גירית. Hagrid is האגריד. Et cetra.

Did you hear the one about...

2008-03-27T13:04:00.000-07:00

So, I am usually not at all good at telling jokes, primarily because I never remember them. However, there is basically one joke that seems to have pretty much stuck in my mind. It's about the scholar Jacob Neusner:
Someone comes to visit Jacob Neusner, and Neusner's secretary says, "I'm sorry, he is busy writing a book." To this the visitor replies, "that's ok, I'll wait."
And that's my repertoire.
The joke makes a good point: The number of books that Neusner has written is staggering. You can see it here listed on Wikipedia.

Mark Twain = Samuel Langhorne Clemens

2008-03-27T08:34:00.000-07:00

I recently on my Facebook page quoted Mark Twain, and for some reason (boredom, perhaps) decided to look up the reason for his having chosen that particular name. Wikipedia seems to give two answers. The first, apparantly attributed to Mark Twain: Mark Twain worked on a Mississippi riverboat and they would measure the depth of the water (mark) and call, "by the mark twain" in order to indicate that there were two (twain) fathoms (1 fathom=6 feet) of water, i.e. that the water was deep enough for them to move the boat. However, Wikipedia then gives another reason, directly from the writings of Mark Twain, which basically involves his having taken the name from a captain who under that name used to write accounts with information about the river. Finally, other sources claim that the term refers to his "running bar tab" at a certain saloon.
Well that has all been very educational. Thanks to Wikipedia, virtually no question seems to go unanswered these days. I still however would like a teretz between the first two answers. Which is it, Wikipedia? Which is it?

And this is what happens when I am bored...

Mmm...frosting

2008-03-26T11:25:00.000-07:00

Today was inclusion day at work. For us, this meant that there were balloons. Appropriately, there was a frosted cake with a picture of a rainbow on it. Mmm...tolerance, in frosting form.

Food, glorious food...

2008-03-25T18:59:00.000-07:00

Three words: Gluten free croutons!
Five more words: Pesach section at Key Food!

2008-03-25T18:58:00.001-07:00

Interesting story

P.s.

2008-03-24T18:52:00.000-07:00

Apparantly the world's tallest man just got taller.

But it's my stapler...

2008-03-24T13:30:00.000-07:00

Today at work, I fixed the giant stapler that had broken. What a great feeling of accomplishment...

Unicorn/whale aka Narwhal

2008-03-20T09:44:00.000-07:00

In keeping with my new found interest of Marine Biology, I have been reading about Narwhals.
This prompted a discussion at work, and prompted a co-worker to comment, "what's cooler than a unicorn and a whale all in one?" To this, my other co-worker said, "a unicorn on a whale?"

More about Narwhals (because I know that you are absolutely fascinated by them, as you well should be):

"Measuring up to 2.7 meters or about 9 feet long, the tusk is traversed by up to 10 million nerve pathways. These pathways connect the outside of the tusk to a central core of nerves leading to the animal’s brain. Based on experiments with samples of the tusk as well as with a captured narwhal whale, the research team found that the tusk’s sensory system may be capable of detecting changes in temperature, pressure, salinity and other factors that may help a narwhal survive its Arctic environment" (www.nist.gov/.../techbeat/tb2005_1222.htm).

p.s. The best pi day was actually in 1592: 3/14/1592.
To hear pi in song form, click here. It's oddly hypnotic.

Happy belated pi day!

2008-03-15T17:54:00.001-07:00

Goooogle

2008-03-14T12:12:00.000-07:00

I have made an exciting new discovery about the Google search engine: the search bar functions as a calculator and as a currency converter. All you need to do is type in the math function or the amount of money and to what it should be converted, and Google provides the answer. How cool is that?