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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in
Josh's LiveJournal:
| Thursday, November 19th, 2009 | |
| 2:54 pm | MLP Links I'm Abandoned PA Turnpike!!! Stolen squirrels!!! [video] (I blame ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} nnaylime)Survey of American Jewish Language and Identity [pdf] (From Yeshivish to Yiddish and everything in between!) This is still the best photo of 2009. |
| Tuesday, November 17th, 2009 | |
| 10:51 am | MLP There's no such thing as virginity. Before they closed down temporarily due to a teacher's strike, my high school banned touching mezuzot on one's way into or out of a room due to swine flu. Today's F Minus is funny, and from marnanel, this funny animated gif.Congress is broken. If I ever get fed up and give up on politics entirely, this article explains the reason. From alanscottevil: The pledge of allegiance is un-American.The final word on Belichick and Sunday's 4th-and-2, including a link to a hilarious 4th-and-2 calculator. And finally, today's a Woot Off! Hope I don't miss them offering an Eye-Fi like I did last time! |
| Sunday, November 15th, 2009 | |
| 12:25 pm | Multimedia message Chanukah display at Bed Bath and Beyond. I think Apples To Apples has finally achieved market saturation.  |
| Friday, November 13th, 2009 | |
| 1:54 pm | bris Mazal tov to Amy and Jon on the birth of their new baby boy! I'm still pretty early on in the phase of life where my friends reproduce a lot. I hope I'm not forgetting anyone, but I think this is only the second boy born in the past couple years to friends of mine who are active in Jewish communities. That makes this a seemingly appropriate time to talk about some weird quirks about brit milah, or bris, the Jewish ritual circumcision. (This probably won't sound as unusual to those of you not familiar with this stuff as did my posts on pidyon haben or siyyum bechorim or tchum or the 3 weeks, but it's presented in the same vein.) A bris is held 8 days after a baby boy is born, health permitting. The day of the birth is counted as day 1, so it's usually held on the same weekday as the birth (keeping in mind that Jewish days start the sundown before). Traditionally, people are not invited to a bris. They're simply notified of the date, time, and location. It's understood that if you can go, you're welcome to. I believe the reason for this is that simply attending a bris is a mitzvah, a commandment, and you should never be put in a position of explicitly declining a mitzvah. (Sadly, this one is next Wednesday afternoon and not in Philly, so I won't be able to go.) (This one courtesy of BZ.) A bris can be held on Shabbat or a major holiday, but only if it's exactly the 8th day. If you have to delay it for any reason, you should keep delaying it until after Shabbat or the holiday. One reason you might delay is if you're not sure which day a kid was born; if he's born during the 45 or so minutes of twilight between sunset and nightfall. That's sort of an ambiguous time in Judaism, sort of between two days. (For example, you observe Shabbat during that stretch on both Friday evening and Saturday evening.) If a boy is born during this time of day on Tuesday evening, you hold the bris on Wednesday rather than Tuesday the week later. And if a boy is born during this time of day on a Friday evening, you hold the bris a week later on....Sunday. Why? Because you can't do it on Friday, since the kid might've been born on Saturday, and doing the bris before 8 days is completely forbidden. And you can't do it on Saturday, because the kid might've been born on Friday, and you can only do a bris on Shabbat if it's exactly the 8th day. In an extreme example, if there's a two-day major holiday on Sunday and Monday, and the kid is born during twilight on a Friday evening, you hold the bris on...Tuesday! Of course. If the kid were born an hour later or earlier, you'd hold it on the 8th day as usual. And, from one of my favorite books, this random quirk: Say that twin boys are born on a Monday afternoon in California, and then they are both taken to the Middle East, but one is taken the West route (i.e. over the Pacific Ocean and Asia) and the other is taken the East and more direct route (i.e. over the US, the Atlantic and Europe). Approximately 7 and a half 24-hour-periods later, it will be Monday afternoon in the Middle East. This is the appropriate time for the bris for the first boy, but the second boy will have to wait until Tuesday afternoon. The Date Line (which does exist in Jewish law, but may or may not be in exactly the same place as the International Date Line) does not apply to the bris, which has to wait until the 8th day of the boys life, counting sunsets and sunrises that he experiences in his location. Since the second boy saw one fewer sunset due to the direction he traveled around the world, he has to wait another day. |
| Wednesday, November 11th, 2009 | |
| 1:06 pm | My favorite webcomics you've never heard of 1. Subnormality 2. Medium Large (written by someone who also writes a comic you've heard of, and you'll never guess which one) 3. Minus (sadly, no longer being updated) 4. F Minus (not a webcomic as traditionally understood, but you probably haven't seen it in your local newspaper either) |
| Sunday, November 8th, 2009 | |
| 9:04 am | travel Two weekends ago: Drove to DC for about 18 hours. (There was a point right before returning home when I was driving West through Center City Philadelphia, and had been driving East past that exact point on my way to DC exactly 24 hours earlier.) (Sorry to all those I didn't get to visit.) Last weekend: Flew to Minneapolis for 60 hours. (Still meaning to write a bit about that.) Today: Amtraking to Boston for about 8 hours. (Mazal tov, LN&EM!) (The return trip, however, will involve flying rather than a train; thus rendering this something less than a round-trip tour of basically all transportation options available to me.) (Sorry to all those I won't get to visit.) Next weekend: Freaking not going anywhere. The weekend after that: Busing to New York for about 7 hours. (STATIWGTV.) I like Philly. I swear. It's just that one of the things I like about it is how easy it is to get other places from it... |
| Thursday, November 5th, 2009 | |
| 12:04 pm | I'm realizing that I have no idea which of my friends actually wear makeup. I tend to assume that none ever do, or perhaps a few do for special occasions only. But I could be way off base. Poll #1481188 Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 40 Do you ever wear makeup? (For reasons other than being in a theater performance or on television or similar.)
View Answers Yes, more than once a week (and I identify as a girl/woman) Yes, about once a week (and I identify as a girl/woman) Yes, less than once a week (and I identify as a girl/woman) No, though I used to (and I identify as a girl/woman) No, never (and I identify as a girl/woman) Yes, more than once a week (and I identify as a boy/guy/man) Yes, about once a week (and I identify as a boy/guy/man) Yes, less than once a week (and I identify as a boy/guy/man) No, though I used to (and I identify as a boy/guy/man) No, never (and I identify as a boy/guy/man) Yes, more than once a week (and I have some other gender identity or don't want to share my gender identity) Yes, about once a week (and I have some other gender identity or don't want to share my gender identity) Yes, less than once a week (and I have some other gender identity or don't want to share my gender identity) No, though I used to (and I have some other gender identity or don't want to share my gender identity) No, never (and I have some other gender identity or don't want to share my gender identity) |
| Wednesday, November 4th, 2009 | |
| 9:18 pm | three stories For the first 21 months I've lived in this apartment, I've struggled to get my newspaper delivered without it being stolen before I can get it. I imagine it was being stolen out front, by someone passing by or waiting at the bus stop near my apartment. I've since lowered my delivery schedule to weekends only, and was still only getting a paper about a third of the time. After finally speaking to a delivery manager at the newspaper company, we decided to have the delivery person put my paper inside the bars lining my living room window. The window starts maybe 6.5 or 7 feet from street level, relatively easily reached. The paper would be harder to see by passers-by, we figured, with it resting between the glass and the bars. It worked great. I've gotten my paper consistently in the few weeks we've tried it. My roommate even figured out that the paper could be accessed through the window, making it even more convenient than if it were somehow delivered to the front door of the apartment. And I even got complacent about the successful deliveries to the point that I didn't cancel my delivery this weekend when I was away, and I left the papers, still in their plastic bags, in the window until today. I was walking home from dinner, when I saw someone at the front door of my building, so I turned around*. As I was waiting, some guy on the street asked me if the newspapers were mine. (I have no idea how he knew that I was waiting to go into my building, or that the front apartment was mine, or anything like that.) Dumbfounded, I said yes. He said I should do something about them, because someone had been trying to set them on fire. --- I ate dinner in a restaurant tonight that I'd never tried before. The food was good. After dinner, I asked for a manager. I told him that I would probably not be returning there, because all of the chairs and booths in the establishment had such low backs that I couldn't comfortably sit anywhere there. (I generally need good, straight back support at least up to mid-back, though so high that I can't tilt my head backwards is problematic.) He thanked me, though wasn't able to offer any solutions. He didn't even bring up the idea of take-out until I mentioned it. --- I've corresponded with Brad Goebel twice regarding my fantasy football team named after him. It's my first time playing fantasy football. My team is 6-2, tops in the league. As of a week ago, his team was, he said, 2-5 in his league. He cited my obviously superior skill as the reason why he would not offer me advice on how to run my fantasy team, when I had offered to ask him questions along those lines if he'd be interested. I'm trying to think of who I should name my team after next year. Kurt Gouveia is the main idea to come to mind so far, though he might not have been obscure enough. -------------------- *I don't like entering my building when someone else is. I don't know any of my neighbors, and I certainly don't know their guests. I don't want to compromise security by letting them in, and I don't want to be rude by walking past them but then slamming the door in their face. So I usually go somewhere else for 20 seconds until the moment passes. |
| Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009 | |
| 10:08 pm | Election followup To answer some of your questions from earlier: There were two positions up for election that were specific to each division (polling place): Judge of Election and Majority Inspector. I was the former previously. The other is another poll worker, though not the one in charge of the polling place, and has a slightly lower salary. (I believe that of the other poll workers, one is theoretically the loser of the Judge of Election election, and the other one(s) is/are appointed. Or something like that.) Neither had any candidates on the ballot in my ward and division. But I decided not to run again. (Sorry, Professor Munger.) I had several reasons for my decision. The main one is that my employers have been incredibly generous with their paid leave policy since it was revised a couple of years ago. Missing two days a year for this job would've come out of the same "take it as you need it" part of the policy that I currently use for as many as 11 Jewish holidays per year, and I don't want to further abuse the generosity. Other reasons include the fact that I like the poll workers already there, who do a good job (though occasionally show up a bit late in the morning to open the polls exactly at 7am) and who I wouldn't want to displace; the fact that I might prefer not being tied down to my polling place during a few big elections coming up in the next four years; and the fact that I'm still slightly too transient to know that I'd still live in the division (only a few square blocks) for the next four years. But if anyone asks, I'll tell them this reason: The main reform I wanted to institute in "running" for the job four years ago was to start the practice of distributing "I voted!" stickers in the 27th division of the 8th ward of Philadelphia. These stickers aren't that common in Philly; I'd rarely seen them. My one election on the job, I purchased a roll of stickers with my own money, and handed them out to voters. After I resigned, the stickers left too. But today, for the first time in my life, I was given an "I voted!" sticker by someone other than myself! I was ecstatic! Having no platform on which to run against the incumbents, I cheerfully deferred. Should've written myself in for District Attorney, though. You never know. |
| 7:38 am | Election day! Four years later. Should I write myself in again  ? (For those of you new to the story, I was once elected to an official position, and then the chair of Duke's Political Science department blogged about me.) |
| Friday, October 30th, 2009 | |
| 11:47 am | update In Minneapolis. Was supposed to arrive 8pm last night local time. Instead arrived 12:45am. Listened to the last 3 innings of the game on AM radio at 30,000 feet, which was awesome. (Didn't know if that was legal or not. Everything kept talking about "approved electronic devices" without defining it, so I figured that anything that doesn't transmit is cool. Later research indicates that I was wrong. Oh well.) Slept, and now have an hour to kill. May take photos of the Mississippi River, a shoe tree, and at the Sherlock Holmes rare book exhibit at the library. It's almost 60 degrees out. Not at work now. And quite happy to be here. Happy weekend, y'all. Current Music: The Hold Steady - Southtown Girls |
| Thursday, October 29th, 2009 | |
| 10:35 am | |
| Tuesday, October 27th, 2009 | |
| 8:33 am | |
| Monday, October 26th, 2009 | |
| 7:20 pm | weekend Hi, LiveJournal! How are you? How was your weekend? I had a fun one! peneli was visiting me for Shabbat! She had a grad school assignment to spend some time experiencing some other cultural experience, or something like that, so she decided to do my Shabbat thing with me. Her train was late, so I went to West Philly for Kol Tehilah and the start of a Salon potluck. Ilana and I left early and walked back to Center City. I met up with peneli at my place, where my roommate had let her in, and where the two of them and my roommate's two friends were already bonding.Saturday morning was the third meeting of Minyan Tikvah! Even on a rainy morning, we had 30 people there. We didn't quite have a minyan for the first 15 minutes, and things felt a little lethargic for a bit after that, but by the end it had all picked up and was quite good. (And you don't really need a minyan the first 15 minutes anyway.) Marc's dvar torah was particularly good. That was followed by lunch at Marc and Miriam's, with about a dozen of us in attendance. Afterwards I went back home, and peneli and I napped and chatted. She wasn't feeling well, but I hope she got enough of an Authentic Shabbat Experience™.As soon as Shabbat ended, jox and Andrew joined us and, after some false starts due to the torrential rain, we headed out to DC. Dropped off peneli and arrived a few minutes before 11 at msschein's birthday party! Last year when she had the same party here, there was a crowd that arrived late night from DC, so I figured we'd return the favor. I knew about half the crowd (including arctic_alpine, rivka_m, and a bunch of non-LJ people), and once it thinned out at about 12:30, I knew basically everyone left. We finally left rather late, and I ended up crashing at rivka_m's place at about 2:30.Sunday morning, I attempted to firm up some tentative plans. My friends seem not to be social before noon on Sundays, so I wandered around Mt Pleasant and had some breakfast by myself at first. Then I started having 1-hour socialization appointments. Becca G at 12:30, Jess G at 1:45, dropped by for about 20 minutes to see BZ and EAR and be surprised by BZK being there, picked up jox, stopped by alanscottevil's for a bit, and jox and I were on the road by 4:15. A nice car ride back, some chilling at home, and then finally, blissful, blissful sleep. |
| Thursday, October 22nd, 2009 | |
| 12:49 am | |
| Wednesday, October 14th, 2009 | |
| 1:34 pm | In November, when baseball's over and shows start going into reruns (or I start getting sick of my procedurals) and I need something else to do after work... Poll #1471177 Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 14 Which show should I pick up and start watching from the beginning? |
| Thursday, October 8th, 2009 | |
| 10:53 pm | Trying to keep up the posting even though there's never enough time for it this time of year. My life right now feels like it's all about Jewish holidays and sports. (Go Phils!) Plus the telephone; I'm spending hours more on the phone per week than I have in years. Work is ramping up, and will commence being crazy busy next week. However, today and yesterday late afternoons featured more baseball watching and listening than productive work by most people in my office. It was fun. I haven't had a day that didn't involve intercity traveling, Jewish observance involving not using technology, or work in almost a month. Glad that the holidays are over after this weekend, and that I have Monday off. I'm randomly in a bad mood today, I've had a headache off and on since yesterday, and my phone's internet connection hasn't worked since Monday. I'm sure all will pass soon. I've got very little to do this weekend for the various Jewish observances, and if you want to invite me to something in Center City or West Philly, I'd appreciate it. However, after services on Sunday morning, I intend to be watching football, socializing in a non-holiday sort of way, and/or reading quietly by myself until Sundown. Enough Jewy stuff for now. I've been thinking for awhile that about 45 Shabbats a year would be just the right number. Tomorrow would probably be one of the 7 I'd skip. Oh well. |
| Wednesday, October 7th, 2009 | |
| 6:25 pm | [email post] Chabad concert in Rittenhouse Square? Huh. At least I got to do the lulav thing today. Or, as Alan would say, shake my lulva. |
| Tuesday, October 6th, 2009 | |
| 6:02 pm | my favorite Olympic sport My favorite Olympic sport is curling. (Yes, seriously. Yes, the broom sport.) And the Philadelphia Curling Club is having an open house two Sundays from now (assuming the "2008" is just a typo). I think I should go. And only about 4 more months until Team USA is back on TV, competing for gold! Go Team Shuster!! |
| Monday, October 5th, 2009 | |
| 4:25 pm | I'm not a bad Jew if I go to a friend's home to watch the Eagles game on Sunday (during the last day of holidays, as I observe Judaism, after 3.5 weeks of very frequent holdays), right? Especially if I keep the letter of the law (as I observe it) as to what can and can't be done on holidays, and all I'd be violating is the spirit of the law and of the holiday? Does your answer change if my reasoning is as much about being sick of the holidays as it is about not wanting to miss my third straight Eagles game? |
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