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Things that baffle us
Posted on February 9, 2007 by chet
About 2 years ago — well, closer to 30 months, but whatever — we got involved in a new startup, and as part of outfitting the office we bought a relatively cheap halogen desk lamp. You know the type; heavy black base, long skinny arm, small head, bright like the sun.
It was a nice option in the cold, sterile office we used to have (lit, of course, by fluorescents), and when the startup became more virtual and we started officing at home, it was a welcome alternative to turning on all 6 incandescent bulbs in the ceiling fixtures of our home office room.
It was warmer than it needed to be, but whatever. We liked it. Until one day, the bulb burned out, and since halogen bulbs are vexing and legion, we put off opening the lamp to determine what type to buy until this morning.
SIX screws later, we've got the head open, and that's where the baffle part comes in: there appears to be no way to change the bulb on this godforsaken lamp. We have never seen a disposable $30 lamp before, but there's a first time for everything. WTF? It never even occurred to us to ascertain if the bulb was replaceable because, quite frankly, that seems to us to be a core attribute of "lamp." See below; in the red circle, you can see how the bulb housing is RIVETED to the metal platform; the underside of the platform is just wires. There's literally no way to replace the bulb.
Posted in Life
We're a little late with this, but it's still cool.
BoingBoing points us to a very cool Interstate map done in the style of subway maps.
Posted in Weirdwideweb
Florida is a very silly place
"Hey, y'all wanna go see 'The HooHaa Monologues?'"
Tony Bourdain smacks the Food Network chefs. We agree.
Yes, that glorious time when we review some of the truly bizarre search strings that have brought the huddled masses to Heathen Central. January brought us these gems:
"giant gator"
Where? You go get Boudroux, and we'll get the shotgun! Maw, we're eatin' tonight!
AKA "Jojo the Dog-faced God." Technically a "heathen" search, we reckon, but a bit literal for our tastes.
"slutty women in buffalo ny no pros"
Dude, you're in Buffalo looking for sluts. Don't get all picky on us NOW. Also, this isn't PointlessSexWithGrossPeople.com, so you're kinda out of luck.
"hermione has boobs"
Allah Akbar, my man.
"independent fundamental baptist churches neat seabrook tx"
"hide town jeff miller"
He's not here. I think he's taking a Mexican nap.
"pope evil"
Well, he *was* a Nazi. But he's not here, either. What part of "heathen" don't you understand?
"badger paris hilton"
We think it's more properly referred to as "beaver," but whatever.
"horny heathen"
Aren't we all?
"hypnotized lizards"
Not THAT horny, though. You're sick, dude.
"real yetis"
See above re: Buffalo. Though the one about lizards may apply, too, depending on your intentions with said yeti-americans.
"precis caucasian chalk circle"
Ah, the obligatory "Please do our homework for us, Mr Heathen" search. No.
"houston theater naughty sexy comedy"
See above, re: "Hide Town"
"hdancn"
You bet your ass.
Posted in Geek
Our pal Tony has put a good chunk of his music up for free download. Check it out. He's good.
(Also, Triple-F, note photo.)
Posted in Houston
You know, we LIKED Edwards, even.
But it turns out he's got no balls. They've issued an apology.
Confused? Here's the deal: The Edwards campaign hired two fairly prominent liberal bloggers to run their campaign blog: Amanda Marcotte (of Pandagon) and Melissa McEwen (of Shakespeare's Sister). Both bloggers have been unwavering in their support for, among other things, reproductive rights, and have occasionally — horrors! — used salty language in their postings. Furthermore, they've not been shy about pointing out how fundamentally antiwoman restrictive reproductive rights positions are, and that necessarily includes those of the church of Rome.
Disagreeing, even vigorously, with Catholic doctrine does not make one an "anti-catholic bigot," except in the eyes of the wingnuts.
As if on cue, comes now ubercatholic bigot Bill Donohue, who loves to spew hate and bile about homosexuals and other groups whenever possible, who's very unhappy that a candidate he'll never vote for has hired people who don't like his politics; in fact, his statement demands that Edwards fire the women.
Quickly following that, the right wing noise machine geared up to maumau anything Marcotte or McEwen might have said. We here at Heathen were hoping very much that Edwards would just tell these jackasses to get stuffed, but instead he's rolled over and issued a namby-pamby pseudo-apology, though in his defense he kept the women on staff.
Even so, the whole tone of the thing is capitulatory — and it's capitulatory towards an openly bigoted hatemonger like Donohue. The far-right Catholic League wins this encounter, but is still whining that Edwards didn't fire the two, so at least they're not actually happy. (They continue to insist that the bloggers are anti-catholic bigots, but it's been clear to all who've read their words that their positions are not anything of the sort; it's just more noise from the wingnuts.)
It's going to be a long, long campaign season.
Department of Excellent Web Resources
The inimitable Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum has a twice-a-month podcast of classical music played in the museum's intimate tapestry room. Seriously, check this out.
Why does Fox hate Mike Judge?
Fox buried his new movie, and the Guardian's John Patterson would love to know why. (The story's from September, but it's worth reading.)
Requiem for the Token
Wil Wheaton's Geek in Review (at SuicideGirls; typically SFW) this week is a wonderful nostalgia trip about that endangered suburban creature, the Video Arcade. Check it out.
(He's got excerpts at his blog in case your pointy-headed IT drones have SG blocked.)
Logically, we reckon it's the step just before Ortolon
The NYT discusses really, really, really fresh eggs.
Mr. Barber, the chef and an owner of Blue Hill in Greenwich Village and Blue Hill at Stone Barns in Pocantico Hills in Westchester County, had just been introduced to the wonders of eggs that are described, with varying degrees of delicacy, as immature, unborn, unlaid or embryonic. In plain English, these are eggs that have not been laid and are sometimes discovered when an elderly laying hen is slaughtered.
Big Brother still wants to watch
With Congress pushing ISPs to log all your surfing and net activity indefinitely, it might really be time to start using Tor to protect your activities from prying eyes. Seriously, why trust your ISP to do the right thing, or your government not to abuse this information?
Of course, once you start viewing it this way, it's easy to see just exactly how effective such a scheme is likely to be. Law-abiding citizen traffic will be there in droves, but easy access to anonymizing tools will ensure that anyone who values privacy will escape logging. Oh boy!
"You are coming to a sad realization. Cancel or allow?"
Jobs to DRM: Drop Dead!
Steve Jobs has published a long open letter on iTunes, music, the myth of iTunes "lock-in," and (most of all) DRM. It's pretty clear and very cogent, and the part that's got the Intarwub all a-twitter is this:
The third alternative is to abolish DRMs entirely. Imagine a world where every online store sells DRM-free music encoded in open licensable formats. In such a world, any player can play music purchased from any store, and any store can sell music which is playable on all players. This is clearly the best alternative for consumers, and Apple would embrace it in a heartbeat. If the big four music companies would license Apple their music without the requirement that it be protected with a DRM, we would switch to selling only DRM-free music on our iTunes store. Every iPod ever made will play this DRM-free music.
Why would the big four music companies agree to let Apple and others distribute their music without using DRM systems to protect it? The simplest answer is because DRMs haven't worked, and may never work, to halt music piracy. Though the big four music companies require that all their music sold online be protected with DRMs, these same music companies continue to sell billions of CDs a year which contain completely unprotected music. That's right! No DRM system was ever developed for the CD, so all the music distributed on CDs can be easily uploaded to the Internet, then (illegally) downloaded and played on any computer or player.
In 2006, under 2 billion DRM-protected songs were sold worldwide by online stores, while over 20 billion songs were sold completely DRM-free and unprotected on CDs by the music companies themselves. The music companies sell the vast majority of their music DRM-free, and show no signs of changing this behavior, since the overwhelming majority of their revenues depend on selling CDs which must play in CD players that support no DRM system.
Apple's taken a lot of heat for using DRM at the iTMS, and for not licensing it elsewhere, but the actual fallout of that turns out to be pretty minimal: the overwhelming majority of music on iPods is ripped, not bought, which means almost nobody is buying into the DRM. Now Jobs is pointing out how broken the idea of DRM is, and he's by no means alone (archrival Gates said as much in an offhand comment recently, but he's not the music power that Jobs is).
If Apple manages to drag the music industry into the DRM-free sunlight with this switcheroo move, it'll be a pretty neat trick. Consider it, though: in retrospect there was no way the RIAA was going to participate in an online marketplace devoid of DRM, so Apple creates one that has perhaps the least onerous terms of any in existence. Apple then makes the iTMS an enormous success — it's one of the biggest retail outlets for music online or off — and then starts agitating about ditching the DRM. The RIAA is crazy about the revenue, and Apple's holding all the cards because the music boys have all their eggs in their basket. Nobody else is more than a blip on the radar, but iTMS tracks are only compatible with Apple's tools. What happens next?
It's obvious consumers don't want DRM, but neither does the RIAA want to be beholden to a single vendor like this. Opening the tracks would free both the glorious Heathen hordes AND the RIAA.
Of course, this presupposes that the music industry and the RIAA will behave rationally and realize what business they're really in instead of trying to protect their existing (and broken) model. We'll see. No matter what, we're pretty sure the next steps will be interesting.
Wal-Mart Sets New Standard In Failure
So, Wal-Mart has entered the movie download business. Great. However, they've got a few problems to sort out:
The site doesn't work with Firefox. Seriously, how do you justify building for IE-only in 2006? Are you on crack?
The price for movies is $20, or about what most DVDs cost at Best Buy.
The resolution is a paltry 240×320.
The files are DRM'd out the wazoo.
The files will only play on Windows; Macs and Linux need not apply, nor should Zunes or iPods.
Yeah, we're sure that's gonna take off like, well, a metal dirigible.
Things We Didn't Know: Music Division
Or: How we lost the last 20 minutes on Wikipedia. Anyway:
Tom Waits' pseudolive Nighthawks at the Diner (Asylum, 1975) featured someone named Mike Melvoin on piano. It's one of our favorite records.
Mike Melvoin's daughter Wendy is Wendy of Wendy and Lisa and The Revolution.
Mike's son was the late Jonathan Melvoin, the Smashing Pumpkins' touring keyboardist who overdosed in 1996.
Wendy is twins; her sister Susanna is also a working musician, and is married to Austinite and Stevie Ray Vaughan associate Doyle Bramhall II.
Weird.
Update: In answer to the question in the comments, Melvoin has a Bacon number of 2. She was in Toys with Ralph Tabakin; Tabakin was in Sleepers.
Why on earth would anyone take Rob Enderle seriously?
We're not sure he's ever said anything remotely accurate about technology; Daring Fireball takes him to task about his most recent absurd pronouncements in re: the as-yet-unreleased iPhone, but we'll go a little point-by-point here because it's fun to pull wings off flies like Rob.
From the linked story:
Image-conscious executives who want to own the latest tech gadgets might put their companies at risk if they try to connect iPhones to corporate networks, warns an analyst
Yes, it's possible some execs will have trouble connecting the iPhone to their corporate mail, but only because many corporate mail servers are proprietary (Notes, Exchange) instead of standards-based (POP, IMAP), but there's no evidence at all that successful attempts to do so will result in "risk." The article, by the way, lists none to back up this assertion; it's a total bullshit lede.
To guard against such eventualities, IT departments should begin drafting policies forbidding executives from connecting their Apple iPhones to company networks, said Rob Enderle, a principal analyst with the Enderle Group based in San Jose, Calif.
We wonder, as does DF, what other analysts work at this "Group".
"The device isn't secure enough, nor is it designed to run with corporate systems," he said.
We have no idea how he knows if the device is "secure enough," since none have been released for testing. Since it's currently a closed platform with no software channel other than Apple, it strikes us as a pretty unlikely vector for attack at this point. Nothing else is knowable, which means Enderle is talking out of his ass.
Companies spend a lot of time getting RIM and Palm handheld devices up to par so they can be secure enough to connect to company e-mail, he said.
Really? Are you sure, Rob? Because I've done these things, and have seen no evidence of any such time investment. Blackberry integration with closed back-end systems involves an (expensive) add-on server, that's true, but if your company uses IMAP or POP, there's basically ZERO effort required to connect these tools. They exist as just another mail client. Mail clients, with the enormous exception of Outlook, are not typically virus vectors or security risks.
Before the iPhone is as secure as the BlackBerry and Treo, it needs a product such as Good Technology Mobile, which is designed to securely deliver enterprise applications to mobile devices. But now that Good Technology has been bought by Motorola, it's unclear whether it'd be interested in creating a product for Apple's iPhone, Enderle said.
Aaaaah, now we see the thrust of the article, if it can be called that. We Heathen aren't exactly technological neophytes, and here's the news: We've never heard of this "Good Technology Mobile." We suspect, therefore, that this bit is actually a thinly veiled press release on their behalf, set up by Enderle.
Think of it this way: Execs with Mobile Device X typically want only a few functions.
Phone, first and foremost
The ability to view Office attachments
Synced calendar and address book
All of these functions are CORE attributes of the Treo and the Blackberry, and are expected to be available on the iPhone. No additional software is required. We suspect that 99.9% of Blackberry users never bother adding any additional software, and that this percentage is only a little lower for the Palm-based Treo (which has a long tradition of add-on gadgets, games, and such dating back to its launch as a non-phone PDA in 1996).
The idea that corporations need some "secure channel" to control software installation on these gadgets is therefore absurd on its face. There's very little business need to do so for the vast majority of users, and even in cases where it's needed, the installation is trivial. We're sure, of course, that some clueless IT directors will seize on this opportunity to control MORE systems, but the need really just isn't there.
Leaving all that aside, though, remember this: the iPhone is closed. This means nobody but Apple can sell you software for it. Daring Fireball addresses this very well:
Enderle and Khanna are arguing that the iPhone is insecure because it doesn't (at least yet) allow for third-party software, which means you can't install third-party software designed to let you securely install additional third-party software.
Seriously, what the hell?
Enderle even invokes the corporate boogeyman du jour:
But because of the iPhone's attractive form factor, executives are likely to start buying it when it becomes available in June in the U.S., and tech departments need to head them off at the pass by issuing policies that forbid iPhones from being connected to networks, Enderle said.
If executives insist on connecting iPhones, then the IT department has a duty to report the violation since it could mean that Sarbanes-Oxley or other compliance rules have been broken, Enderle said.
We figure RIM must be paying him as much as these "Good Technology" people for a remark like that. He's not established in any meaningful sense how the as-yet-hypothetical iPhone might constitute a security problem, but he's already banging the drum to get it banned by corporate fiat. We're pretty sure we all know how well edicts like that are typically followed; since we're talking about execs with money to burn on fancy gadgets, we're probably also talking about people who can cheerfully flaunt whatever bullshit regulations the IT director pushes — after all, if the money-printing sales VP wants the iPhone, odds are he's gonna get it.
Furthermore, we're unsure where SarBox mandates RIM- or Treo-only mobile devices in corporate America, so we're also not sure exactly what "violations" Enderle is talking about.
Again: Why the hell do people keep listening to this jackass? He's made it abundantly obvious over the years that he cares far more about slamming Apple (and the Open Source world, another favorite target) than he cares about being right or the truth. Virtually nothing we've read of his can withstand even basic scrutiny; he's like a weird Bizarro-world FUD machine, constantly shilling for Microsoft, SCO, and doing anything he can to pull down Open Source and Apple. Worse, a cursory review of his history will also show that he has no compunctions about making pronouncements and predictions in favor of paying clients, which you'd think would pretty much sunder his credibility, and yet here he is again, babbling about the iPhone.
Dear tech media: Please stop quoting this dork. Thanks.
Finally, Astronauts enter the tabloid news era
This is fucking bizarre:
Lisa Marie Nowak was accustomed to hard training, prolonged deprivation and a strong sense of mission. But this is not exactly what NASA had in mind when they made her an astronaut.
Equipped with a knife, pellet pistol, can of pepper spray, steel mallet and 4 feet of rubber tubing, Nowak arrived at Orlando International Airport early Monday morning, police said, to confront one challenge the space agency had never considered: a romantic rival.
Nowak, 43, remains in Orange County Jail without bail on a variety of charges arising from a confrontation with Colleen Shipman, an Air Force captain whom she allegedly assaulted in the parking garage during what police characterized as an attempted kidnapping.
Punk and Ice Cream
Susie Horgan took a bunch of pictures in DC in the early 80s that ended up chronicling a big part of the punk scene there, all while working at a Hagen-Dazs shop with, we shit you not, Henry Rollins. Check it out. We defy you to have some reaction other than "holy crap, they're all babies."
Truth in Pictures
Here's an excellent visual summary of why Apache on Linux is and will probably always be more secure (and faster) than Microsoft's IIS.
Potentially useful. But mostly just nostalgia.
Got a hankerin' for some old-skool Mac goodness? Got an extra USB thumbdrive? They've got just the thing, and it's all free.
Why the Colts Won
Touchdown Monkey!
More on the Boston fiasco
Bruce Schneier weighs in with some excellent points.
Wil Wheaton has this to say:
You know, if the goal of terrorists and the whole point of terrorism is to scare the shit out of us so badly that we leap ten feet in the air whenever someone says "boo," then the terrorists are clearly kicking our national asses.
The folks at Making Light are also all over it; this rundown is entitled "Why the Boston Police have no credibility."
Best goddamn thing EVER on YouTube
Pitch 'n' Putt with Joyce 'n' Beckett:
Anybody got a registrar that DOESN'T suck?
We're pretty sure we need to bail on the fools at GoDaddy, especially in light of the news summarized at NoDaddy.com; here's a cut-and-paste, sans the links. You should go check it out if you have domains:
On January 24, 2007, I (Fyodor) woke up to find that my domain registrar, GoDaddy, had suspended one of my most popular domains (SecLists.Org) because MySpace objected to content posted by some user to a mailing list which SecLists archives. They didn't give me a chance to dispute or resolve the problem — just a voicemail saying my domain was "scheduled for suspension", followed up by a Domain Suspension Notice exactly 52 seconds later. Note that neither of these included a phone number for the abuse department or a reason for the shutdown. It took many hours of phone calls (to general support) and emails (to the abuse department) before they even gave me the reason for the shut down, and fixing the problem took longer still. You can read the full details here. One thing I forgot to mention in that email is the secret phone number to their abuse department: +1 480-624-2505.
Note that SecLists was never hosted by GoDaddy. They were just our registrar, whose job is to maintain a list of the 18 million domains their customers own and the corresponding name servers. They aren't the web content police and shouldn't go suspending domains at MySpace's behest without a court order.
Even after this episode made news worldwide, GoDaddy refused to admit they were wrong. In a News.Com article, GoDaddy general counsel Christine Jones "pointed out that GoDaddy's terms of service say the company 'reserves the right to terminate your access to the services at any time, without notice, for any reason whatsoever.'" In that same article, Jones refuses to rule out suspending a site such as News.Com if a reader posts illegal information in a discussion forum. In another article, Wired reporter Kevin Poulsen catches Jones in a lie. When Kevin notes that GoDaddy shut down the domain only 52 seconds after leaving the voicemail, not one hour as Jones previously claimed, Jones "admits she doesn't know exactly how much notice [Fyodor] had" and declares that "I think the fact that we gave him notice at all was pretty generous". Is this the sort of company you would hire to manage your domain names? This could happen to any site which allows reader comments or other user generated content.
Mary Cheney Is Full Of Shit
This week, VP Cheney's lesbian daughter famously pronounced her decision to have a child of her own off limits in terms of political discussions, which is utter horseshit. Dan Savage says it better than we could:
Nice try, Mary.
Yes, it's a baby, not a prop. My kid isn't a prop either, but that never stopped right-wingers from attacking me and my boyfriend over our decision to become parents. The fitness of same-sex couples to parent is very much part of the political debate thanks to the GOP and the Christian bigots that make up its lunatic "base." You're a Republican, Mary, you worked on both of your father's campaigns, and you kept your mouth clamped shut while Karl Rove and George Bush ran around the country attacking gay people, gay parents, and our children in 2000, 2002, 2004, and 2006. It's a little late to declare the private choices of gays and lesbians unfit for public debate, Mary.
And so long as your party insists on making the fitness of homosexuals to marry or parent — or, hell, exist — a subject of public debate, Mary, your decision to become a parent is germane and very much fit for public discussion and debate. The GOP's selective embrace of some pregnant dykes — only knocked-up lesbians with powerful connections will be treated with respect — is a disconnect that demands answers. From you, from your father, from your venomous mother, from the idiot president you helped elect. Is that fair? Maybe not. Want to blame someone? Go look in the mirror — and then come out swinging, Mary — for yourself, your partner, and your child.
Maybe Brother Heathen ought to get promoted to his own blog; here's what he had to say about Charles Stimson in comments, below:
He should be disbarred. Alarmist on my part? I don't think so. I worked by ass off to be admitted to a pretty exclusive group of professionals. A group who, ostensibly, purport to swear to uphold the rights of their clients within the bounds of the Constitution and the laws of their respective jurisdictions.
Making a comment like Mr. Stimson did is analogous to impeaching a criminal defendant's counsel in front of a jury for stooping to represent the defendant. It is like asking a witness if they would lie on the stand when you have no basis to believe that they are, in fact, lying. For all the shit lawyers get, the one thing we do to deserve it is admit people like Mr. Stimson. He is a disgrace to an honorable profession. A profession that is fundamentally based on giving each party equal and responsible representation and letting the law figure out who is "correct."
Mr. Stimson has shown that he values propaganda more than justice, fury more than honesty and prejudice more than liberty. He is a disgrace to the bar, the Justice Department and the Executive Branch (which is saying a lot considering the current resident of the White House). He should be disbarred. Draconian? Perhaps. But he has made is bed. And it is a disgraceful place to sleep.
Goddamn right, Brother. Well said.
Someone needs to explain the Principle of Least Surprise to Microsoft
In re: Vista, there are bears in those woods.
A bit:
I fiddled with a few file and folder permissions (initially it had been read-only), but couldn't get the directory listing to tell me the truth. Puzzled, i tried opening the file with Notepad, and fell headlong into some kind of parallel universe: the changed content was gone, and the file had reverted to its original content. What?!? I went back and opened it again with the original editor: my changes were there, just as i made them. I opened it with Notepad, then Wordpad: my changes were gone.
The answer to the puzzle is one of the creepiest "features" we've ever heard of, and proof positive that MS is utterly ignorant in matters of user expectations.
Ah, cops
The Agitator reminds us that the power imbalance between citizen and cop is getting worse all the time.
Reggie Watts is Awesome
This video is pretty damn cool; it's even cooler when you realize that the guy in question is also the frontman for the previously-blogged Seattle band Maktub, which you should also check out.
Dept. of Copyright Assholes
Techdirt reminds you that if your TV is too big, the NFL may think you're infringing their copyright if you have folks over to watch the game tomorrow.
Score one for Gov. GoodHair
We are absolutely SHOCKED by this, but it's awesome:
Today, the Lone Star State's Governor Rick Perry signed an executive order to require all girls entering sixth grade to be vaccinated against HPV, according to the Associated Press. Perry, a conservative republican opposed to abortion and stem cell research, avoided the battle such an aim would incite in the Legislature by issuing the order himself. Despite the fact that we can now successfully vaccinate against HPV — the most common cause of cervical cancer, which kills 4,000 women yearly — many conservatives are up in arms over the implications of inoculating young girls against a sexually transmitted disease. To do so would undercut messages about safe sex; possibly encouraging sexual activity, they argue.
This line of reasoning is so loony, so unabashedly callous, it's amazing to hear it so widely parroted. It essentially deems naughty girls who do not heed parental warnings about the dangers of unsafe sex as expendable — either to a HPV, a disease we can prevent, or, in the worst cases, cervical cancer. "The HPV vaccine provides us with an incredible opportunity to effectively target and prevent cervical cancer," Perry said. "If there are diseases in our society that are going to cost us large amounts of money, it just makes good economic sense, not to mention the health and well-being of these individuals to have those vaccines available."
More at the local fishwrapper.
This, at least, is good news
Charles Timson, the Defense Department jackass who tried to organize a boycott of the law firms providing pro bono representation to the Gitmo detainees has resigned.
Don't let the door hit your ass on the way out, asshole.
Things we didn't know
Pyrex is actually no longer Pyrex, and may well shatter if exposed to rapid temperature changes. The original, real McCoy Pyrex is a brand of borosilicate glass created largely FOR its enormous resistance to thermal shock; today, "Pyrex" is really just a brand of garden variety glass (it's not even borosilicate), and is just as resistant to thermal shock as any other glass, which is to say "not at all." Needless to say, there's been no effort at all to make sure consumers know that Pyrex is no longer Pyrex, so many folks have been surprised in messy and dangerous ways when they trusted "new" Pyrex to be the same durable and solid material.
Basically, some beancounting marketer has destroyed the brand and thought nobody would notice. Don't buy Pyrex.
The President is a Criminal
Many have said this of presidents in the past, but in the US today, it's a matter of public record:
LAST August, a federal judge found that the president of the United States broke the law, committed a serious felony and violated the Constitution. Had the president been an ordinary citizen — someone charged with bank robbery or income tax evasion — the wheels of justice would have immediately begun to turn. The F.B.I. would have conducted an investigation, a United States attorney's office would have impaneled a grand jury and charges would have been brought.
But under the Bush Justice Department, no F.B.I. agents were ever dispatched to padlock White House files or knock on doors and no federal prosecutors ever opened a case.
The ruling was the result of a suit, in which [James Bamford, the author, is] one of the plaintiffs, brought against the National Security Agency by the American Civil Liberties Union. It was a response to revelations by this newspaper in December 2005 that the agency had been monitoring the phone calls and e-mail messages of Americans for more than four years without first obtaining warrants from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, as required by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
Let's compare:
CLINTON lied about a blow job in an investigation of an ancient land deal in Arkansas on which he lost money: IMPEACHED
BUSH admitted on national television that he was wantonly committing hundreds if not thousands of felonies by ignoring FISA, not to mention starting a trillion-dollar war with a country essentially unrelated to Islamic terrorism: UNIMPEACHED
At least someone noticed
The floppy disk is dead. If anything, it outlived its usefulness. We haven't carried a laptop with a floppy since 1997 or 1998 (a Dell, if memory serves; a superslim no-internal-removable-drives IBM followed before we jumped to our first Powerbook in 2000 or so). In other words, 9 or 10 years, and NOW it's a story?
What we really like about the linked story is the error message they've pictured. If you recognize it, you're really geeky.
Forget Muslims; in Beantown, they fear CARTOONS!
Electrolite has easily the best summary of the whole "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" bullshit today in Boston. Here's the money shot:
The devices have been up for weeks in ten other cities, and no one's panicked.
The devices have been up for weeks in ten other cities, and the Department of Homeland Security doesn't know about it.
We don't know which is sadder.
Things you don't need to see, not EVER.
Daniel "Harry Goddamn Potter" Radcliffe starring in a production of that Citizen Kane of erotic horse-worship plays, Equus.
Godspeed, Molly
Molly Ivins, 1944 – 2007. She was only 62.
Molly said this recently:
We are the people who run this country. We are the deciders. And every single day, every single one of us needs to step outside and take some action to help stop this war. Raise hell. Think of something to make the ridiculous look ridiculous. Make our troops know we're for them and trying to get them out of there. Hit the streets to protest Bush's proposed surge. If you can, go to the peace march in Washington on Jan. 27. We need people in the streets, banging pots and pans and demanding, "Stop it, now!"
One of her editors said:
Goodbye, Molly I.
Molly Ivins is gone, and her words will never grace these pages again — for this, we will mourn. But Molly wasn't the type of woman who would want us to grieve. More likely, she'd say something like, "Hang in there, keep fightin' for freedom, raise more hell, and don't forget to laugh, too."
If there was one thing Molly wanted us to understand, it's that the world of politics is absurd. Since we can't cry, we might as well laugh. And in case we ever forgot, Molly would remind us, several times a week, in her own unique style.
Goddamn right.
We are in no position to dispute this
Modern Drunkard magazine has named Andre the Giant as Greatest Drunkard of All Time.
By the way, from Wikipedia, this is the best fact about Andre ever:
Actor Cary Elwes explains in his video diary of The Princess Bride that Samuel Beckett was a neighbour of the Roussimoff family while living in France. He used to give Andre a lift to school every day, since the boy was unable to take the school bus owing to his large size.
Books of 2023 #3: Hell Bent, by Leigh Bardugo
Let's blog books again. 2023 #1: The World We Make by N. K. Jemisin
New Hip + 10
HOWTO: Keep a Diary
DominosDominosDominos
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Measuring the time it takes on average to pay a vendor invoice is key in order to analyze your cash flows impact on the Accounts Payable Team. When comparing the DPO to the Day Sales Outstanding (DSO, the average time it takes to collect an invoice from a customer), this gives insight into the cash flow situation. The goal usually is to have the ability to influence the DPO being (slightly) higher than the DSO and ensuring to pay vendors slower than receiving the cash from customers. It also shows the ability to collect early payment discounts.
The most common way to calculate the DPO is this formula: DPO = Accounts Payable / (Cost of Sales / Number Of Days). Usually, this is measured per month or per quarter.
Using this information depends on vendor contracts and the intent around the cash flow. If the goal is to collect early payment discounts, then the DPO should be low. If the vendor contracts generally don't have early payment discounts, the DPO should be i) above the DSO, and ii) around the average payment terms to maintain a good credit scoring.
This measures the total costs for an invoice to be processed and paid, from receipt of the invoice, to entering it into the Accounting/ERP system, to approvals, and finally the processing of the payment. This information has a relative and an absolute component. Measuring the improvement of the Accounts Payable Team is shown in a relative reduction of CPI over time. Comparing this number to benchmarking data in the type of business operated in, shows how the Accounts Payable Operation is doing compared to "Best in Class" operations.
To calculate this, add total costs during the evaluation period for the Accounts Payable Team to the cost for all approvers (time for approving invoices and payments) and divide it by the number of invoices paid during this period of time. This should include the cost for a vendor service desk (Help Desk) and the cost for the payments made (bank fees, cost for printing and mailing checks etc.).
Divide the number of all payments made during the evaluation period by the number of invoices paid late (minus a grace period of a few days, in case you're paying electronically). This shows the ability to manage cash flow, take early payment discounts, and how the Accounts Payable Team performance influences the credit rating of the company. Although this information is similar to the DPO, it gives more granular insight, especially when breaking it out into 5- or 10-day buckets or calculating this for particular key vendors.
This should only be measured for invoices paid during the evaluation period (often week or month). It shows where the A/P team spends most of their time, as well as the ability to improve particular parts of the A/P process.
This is usually measured in 30-day increments, with the largest percentage of invoices (number of invoices or value) being in the "Not Due" bucket, and a small percentage being in the 1-30 bucket. The total percentage of the remaining buckets should be less than the percentage of the 1-30 bucket.
Calculated by dividing the number of total invoices paid by the number of invoices paid that went into an exception process, measured over the evaluation period. This shows how compliant vendors are with the invoicing and payment process. If the percentage of invoices in the exception process is high, this can indicate that the invoicing/payment process is too complex or too manual.
This shows you the effectiveness of the A/P Team members. It's calculated by dividing the invoices processed per day by the number of Accounts Payable Team members. This should include the team members working on a Help Desk to incorporate exception processes as well.
Calculated by the number of total payments per period divided by the number of payments that had not been successful and had to be processed again. This indicates the effectiveness of the payment process as well as the quality of the Vendor Master Data.
If you find these metrics are shedding actionable insight into your Account Payable operation, then automating the data capture and reporting should be a priority for effective management.
Lastly, do not forget to incorporate manual errors on top of these metrics. Human errors are unavoidable but costly, they can be eliminated by automating the human tasks while preserving your current invoice processing flow.


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Situated on the Morrell estate amidst neatly trimmed gardens, our Farmhouse country accommodation brings with it a sense of yesteryear, having been built in the 1800s by the Dutch settlers Morrell's Farmhouse exudes vintage charm of a bygone era. The house boasts a shady patio, as well as a cozy lounge and dining room area with built in fireplaces, available to in-house guests.


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Highland council hopeful closes Scottish Green Party conference
Sun 23 Oct, 2016
The thing that really makes us different to the other political parties is our unwavering shared principles, our internal moral compass, our desire to put the planet, people and peace at the forefront. Isla O'Reilly
The Scottish Greens' autumn conference came to a close today with an upbeat speech from the co-convener of the Highlands and Islands branch.
Isla O'Reilly from Inverness, who is standing in next year's council election, told Green members at the Perth Concert Hall that the local authority elections offer a great chance to elect "huge green swathes of councillors" in Highland and other Scottish councils.
Isla Headshot.png
Isla O'Reilly said:
"The thing that really makes us different to the other political parties is our unwavering shared principles, our internal moral compass, our desire to put the planet, people and peace at the forefront.
"Also that we are part of a global movement. We have heard this weekend how much we share in common with our fellow greens in Europe and Australia and throughout the world. There are 15,000 Green party members in Australia, not much more than us, and yet they have so many elected representatives that it's difficult to count them. The success they have seen is down to community organising campaign structure - knowing where your vote is and get them out.
"The 2017 local election is a chance to turn the tide of centralisation. To act like the powerful councils we want to create already exist. To show voters at the basest level what independence means to us. Once people get used to democracy on their doorstep, see themselves and their values listened to and reflected in the demographics and decision made by local councils.
"I hope the message taken away from this conference is one of hope. We have never been in a better position to see huge green swathes of councillors across the country. By thinking and acting locally we can all make a huge difference globally."

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Zip front sweater jacket in a bomber style featuring an irresistibly soft fabrication with perfect stretch for a comfortable fit. Effortless and cool with puffed sleeves and an easy shape. Front pockets.


Advanx East is a large, high-rise residential development in Rushcutters Bay. The project brief arose from the geographical challenge of a high water table, which required the building's car park to be built above ground. The façade greening is aimed at improving the overall amenity of the building, with the circular artwork Footprints, designed by artist Stefanie Flaubert, representing the memory of the original tracks through this natural landscape. This unique installation showcases a synthesis between the footprints of the traditional inhabitants along a path through the living foliage, providing new insights into the location's past.
Junglefy provided technical design support to FDC Construction, Place Design Group and Tensile around the support frame, irrigation design, planter box design and plant design. We were then responsible for installing all plant elements of the green façade including the design and manufacture of 180 bespoke planter boxes that were particularly suited to this green façade installation.
We provided maintenance for the first 12 months ensuring the leading shoots were trained onto the trellising wire. Due to its proximity to the main road, the maintenance of this façade has proved challenging. This was also due to the absence of a twin rope access static line, which was originally proposed but was removed due to budget constraints.
Design and manufacture of bespoke planter boxes customised for this particular green façade installation.


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This article was published on May 27, 2014
LG G3 hands-on: A worthy contender to Samsung's Note series, if it can live up to its early promise
May 27, 2014 - 10:11 pm
Ben Woods
Europe Editor
Ben is a technology journalist with a specialism in mobile devices and a geeky love of mobile spectrum issues. Ben used to be a professional (show all) Ben is a technology journalist with a specialism in mobile devices and a geeky love of mobile spectrum issues. Ben used to be a professional online poker player. You can contact him via Twitter or on Google+.
LG unveiled its G3 smartphone today, a successor to the G2, with a larger display, new camera options and some interesting UI tweaks.
It certainly looks like a worthy Samsung Note series rival on paper, so we went hands-on with the device to find out if it measured up in real life.
Scratching the surface
On the face of it, not too much has changed between the LG G2 and today's G3 reveal, but look a little closer and there are some notable differences to be found in the G3.
Some of those come in the aesthetics of the device; although it keeps the same 'floating arc' tapered-edge design seen in the rest of the series, it's obviously a little larger overall to accommodate the bigger display. Despite the bigger chassis and generous display, it's not overbearingly heavy. Officially, it meaures 146.3mm x 74.6mm x 8.9mm and weighs 149 grams. Unofficially, we'd expect it fit just fine in your pocket or bag without weighing you down.
It also keeps the same rear-mounted volume and power buttons too, which although smaller this time around, are no less of a divisive feature. You'll either grow to love the convenience of rear buttons on such a large device, or you won't and it'll remain a little counter-intuitive. We'd expect more of the former than the latter though, from our own experience.
LG also made the switch to using a "metallic skin" for the new generation device, so it now looks a lot less plasticky – a vital change if the G3 is to compete against the latest models from rivals, most notably Samsung's Note series. LG said the casing is scratch resistant too, so it shouldn't end up looking tatty in a hurry.
One of the biggest – in every sense – changes for the G3 is the inclusion of a 5.5-inch display, which has an iPhone 5s-beating 538 pixels-per-inch (PPI) and a resolution of 2560 x 1440 pixels. This makes it one of the only handsets on the market to offer such a high (Quad HD) resolution; notably, only the Oppo Find 7 has beaten it to the punch so far.
First to market or not, the display is stunning and provides easily some of the best quality videos and images we've seen on a smartphone from our initial impressions. Bright, crisp and decent viewing angles; everything you'd want in a display.
Nonetheless, there's no point putting a huge display on a phone if no one can actually hold it. To that end, LG has gone to some lengths to ensure that the G3's mammoth screen doesn't make the device too unwieldy to hold. Thankfully, it seems to have worked and the 8.9mm-thick chassis sits easily in your hand – providing you don't have particularly small hands; the tapered edges give the impression that the device is actually even thinner than it is too.
One of the small changes under-the-bonnet is the switch to a quad-core 2.5GHz Snapdragon processor. Again, in initial tests it fared very well indeed, making scrolling from the top of a list to the bottom fluid and smooth. We'll have to wait for the full review to find out what effect that upgraded screen and processor have on the 3,000mAh battery. The battery is changeable too, which is always appreciated and a benefit of using a non-unibody design found on something like the HTC One. It also allows the G3 to support wireless charging, which all-metal chassis do not currently.
While the camera has been upgraded, it's too early to say whether the changes have had a dramatic effect on the quality of the shots. What is for sure is that the newly-added infrared laser-assisted auto-focus system (the sensor is just next to the 13-megapixel camera sensor on the rear) allows you to snap a shot with virtually no delay from opening the camera – a point of contention on the previous generation device.
Similarly, LG has tweaked the camera UI to give a simpler, cleaner interface when taking a picture. All the options are still there though and can be displayed on-screen, should you wish.
To make things a little more interesting than stock Android, LG has modified the KitKat version of Android (4.4.2) to provide a flatter looking interface and some custom software tweaks and services, like the Smart Notice system, which makes suggestions based on your phone activity, location and other factors. For example, it might suggest that you add a person's name to your contacts if you speak regularly but the number isn't stored, or it might ask if you want to return a call you missed while you were in a meeting as you don't appear to have done that yet.
We've barely scratched the surface here of the new LG G3, but from our brief time with the device, the speedy performance and impressive display already make a great first impression. We'll be interested to see what kind of battery life we get out of it during a normal working week, although anything beyond the regular once-a-day charge requirement would be impressive.
We'll be back with our full review in the near future for a more detailed look at what the G3 has to offer.
Published May 27, 2014 - 10:11 pm UTC
Get ready for 200MP phones thanks to Samsung's new camera sensor
Samsung says it can remotely brick any of its TVs
Who is Lapsus$, the theatrical cyber gang that attacked Okta, Samsung, and Microsoft?


Patient experience (PX) refers to the subjective experience of patients as they proceed through different touchpoints during the continuum of care. The concept has gathered increasing interest in recent years and is increasingly being considered as one of the three pillars of healthcare quality, along with clinical effectiveness and patient safety.
The whitepaper is based on academic research on patient experience and cancer care as well as research conducted at Kaiku Health.


Practice exams are an ideal way to evaluate your level of knowledge prior to taking the actual state insurance agent exam. OLT has created a complete Composite Training Solution for those entering the Insurance Industry as professional insurance agents. OLT has separated the practice exams into the three primary domains of knowledge examined on state agent licensing exams. The domains of knowledge are Life, Health, and Annuities. This permits students to focus their studies. Each time you start a practice exam, a new random set of 35 questions will be drawn from the question pool, placed in a unique order with possible answers also randomized. The practice exam automatically scores your responses. For example, if you select a wrong answer to the first question, and then select the right answer your score will be 50%. Each time you select a right answer your current score is reported. After you have answered all the questions correctly, your total score will be reported, along with the time taken to complete the practice exam.


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Rabbi David Lerner on jewishboston.com: "A Shot Heard 'Round the Nation" #CLERGYAGAINSTBULLETS @PICOnetwork
jewishboston.com: "A Shot Heard 'Round the Nation"
Rabbi David Lerner
http://www.jewishboston.com/91-temple-emunah/blogs/4387-a-shot-heard-round-the-nation
Last Friday morning, I was sitting in my study writing a sermon as I heard the unfolding nightmarish news about a school shooting in Newtown, CT. Watching our preschoolers running around the playground, I was overwhelmed by sadness. As a father, I thought of my own children. Silent tears fell on my desk.
Why can we not protect the most vulnerable and the most valuable: our youngest children?
"Do not murder" calls out from the Ten Commandments. That is because every life is precious, created in the divine image and therefore, of infinite value. Judaism frames it as: one who saves one life, saves an entire world and one who destroys one life, destroys an entire world.
The United States excels in many ways. More than most Western democracies, it is country that is infused with religion and spirituality. But, tragically, it is also distinguished by its widespread gun violence.
Even when compared to other countries, like Canada, where there are many guns, we, in the United States, use them more against each other with sprees of mass murder all too often polluting the land – Columbine, Virginia Tech, Tucson, Aurora, and now, most devastatingly, Newtown.
Some of the roots of this may lie in our revolutionary past. Here in Lexington, we take particular pride in our historic role staving off the British Redcoats.
On April 19, 1775, the ragtag militiamen were ill supplied so they had to husband their bullets.
It was that motley band and what eventually became the American Revolutionary Army that defended this land against Britain, helping us attain our independence. The significance of defending ourselves against outside invaders was enthroned in the in the Second Amendment to the Constitution, which gives us the right to bear arms.
In the succeeding centuries, much has changed in our world. While there are still external threats, one of the greatest internal threats we face is Americans with guns and bullets.
Guns have become more and more prevalent in our society, and we have been afraid to challenge the status quo.
After the attack in Newtown, I went online and found that I could easily purchase the same .223 Bushmaster assault rifle that was used to murder children.
Sadly, in our great country, it's much harder to get help for mental illness than to buy semi-automatic weapons.
Guns do not kill people, but people with guns do. The availability of guns and bullets makes it far too easy for people to kill.
Our religious traditions call us to act.
This is a moral and ethical issue that demands a religious response. All clergy – men and women, Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Jews, Buddhists, Baha'is, Sikhs – have to publicly demand change. We must come together as Americans moved by this tragedy to act and to rally for change.
People of faith across the country will do just that on Jan. 5-6, 2013 which has been designated a Sabbath to Stop Gun Violence.
There is no excuse for silencing the shots heard in Newtown.
Thankfully, President Obama spoke out forcefully, calling for action, but he needs to hear our voices as well.
Let us take a page from the Minutemen and husband our bullets by banning high capacity cartridges. Let us reinstate the sensible assault rifle ban. Let us close the loopholes so that all gun purchases require background checks. Right now, 40% of gun sales have no checks!
In 1775, Lexington's "shot heard round the world" freed us from British tyranny; as horrific as the Newtown shots were, let those shots be heard as a call to free us the tyranny of gun violence.
Rabbi David Lerner is the spiritual leader of Temple Emunah in Lexington, MA, past president and treasurer of the Lexington Interfaith Clergy Association, is active in Faiths United Against Gun Violence and is the founder of www.ClergyAgainstBullets.org
JOIN THE GREATER LEXINGTON (AND BEYOND) INTERFAITH COMMUNITY FOR A "SERVICE OF REMEMBRANCE AND RESPONSE" on TUESDAY, JANUARY 1, 2013 at TEMPLE ISAIAH in LEXINGTON from 5-6 PM
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TOV LEHODOT! ::
Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson on #HuffPost: "Unity Is Not Uniformity: An Open Letter to Natan Sharansky" #liberatethewall
Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson on HuffPost: "Unity Is Not Uniformity: An Open Letter to Natan Sharansky"
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rabbi-bradley-shavit-artson/unity-is-not-uniformity-an-open-letter-to-natan-sharansky_b_2372390.html
Dear Mr. Sharansky,
I am writing to ask you to use your new authority to provide real freedom of religion at the Kotel, Jerusalem's Western Wall.
Like many others, I have long been in awe of your heroic fight on behalf of Soviet Jews. Your courage in the face of the full force of Soviet power was a beacon of light that inspired countless others and made possible the repatriation of many Jews to the Land of Israel. We are all in your debt.
Recently, the Prime Minister of Israel turned to you to provide another act of courage and service. Few can ignore the atrocious reality that the most public religious site of Judaism, the Western Wall in Jerusalem, has been a site of constricted bigotry, under the domination of an Orthodox rabbinate intent on maintaining its monopoly and avoiding a real exchange of ideas with other Jewish streams. Those government-sponsored theocrats have succeeded in generating legislation enforcing a monopoly of their version of Judaism as the sole permissible practice at this ancient national landmark. As a result of such repressive legislation, we have witnessed women arrested, harassed, even incarcerated for the "crime" of attempting to hold a Torah service at the Kotel, the Western Wall. They are bullied, shouted down, pushed and attacked for the beautiful egalitarian expression of Judaism as they practice it. Many of them have been charged with a crime simply for wearing a Tallit, a prayer shawl.
This shameful reality makes Israel's official rabbinate look little different than the government funded religious bureaucrats elsewhere who would use their faith to silence and intimidate those who live differently than their parochial views would authorize. Why is it that so many zealots are so threatened by women who refuse to be silent, marginalized or intimidated?
I write to you today as one who loves Israel with her rich diversity of people's faiths and communities. I write to you as one who spends extensive time in Israel every year and whose students live a full year of their program learning in Israel. I write to you as a rabbi affiliated with the Conservative/Masorti stream of Jewish life, insisting that there must be room for the Judaism that I and hundreds of thousands around the globe affirm.
I write because the Torah of Israel demands it, as does the democratic nature of the State of Israel.
One of the greatest contributions of the Hebrew Bible to the cultural heritage of humanity is the most often repeated commandment in the entire Bible: "You shall have one law." That mandated standard of equity in the Torah pertained to Israelites and to non-Israelites dwelling under the Torah's jurisdiction. One equal standard was to pertain to both citizens and resident aliens. That same aspiration of legal equality pertained across the board of Israelite class or status: There was to be one law for all. Indeed the rabbis of the Talmud went so far as to claim that this biblical mandate for one legal standard crossed gender barriers as well: "Scripture equated women and men for all the laws of the Torah" (Bava Kama 15a).
This core biblical aspiration motivated the Enlightenment thinkers to advocate social structures in which all citizens could be free and equal: liberty, brotherhood and equality, in the words of the French slogan. Or, as Thomas Jefferson put it: All men are created equal, and endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights. The ancient mandate of Torah pulsated through their work with an insistence that the purpose of government is to protect human liberty and diversity. Indeed, that very sentiment reverberates in the Declaration of Independence of the State of Israel:
THE STATE OF ISRAEL will be open to the immigration of Jews from all countries of their dispersion; will promote the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants; will be based on the precepts of liberty, justice and peace taught by the Hebrew Prophets; will uphold the full social and political equality of all its citizens, without distinction of race, creed or sex; will guarantee full freedom of conscience, worship, education and culture; will safeguard the sanctity and inviolability of the shrines and Holy Places of all religions...
That this standard was never fully attained in the biblical period runs like a torrent through the condemnation of Israel's prophets. But the ideal remained the goal. That this egalitarian standard was never fully attained by contemporary democracies (Israel among them) has driven the movements for social justice across the last several centuries -- inspiring the anti-slavery movement, the women's movement, the labor movement, the civil rights movement, the gay/lesbian movement and most recently efforts to expand inclusion to those with special needs. Yet here, too, the imperfections and shortcomings of reality could not erase the power and validity of the goal. The goal remains equality, inclusion, diversity.
Included in this litany of struggles to extend equal protection was the long battle for religious freedom: that a citizen could practice or reject the faith of his or her choice without prejudice, exclusion or penalty. The fight for religious equality has been hard fought across the ages and around the world -- for the right of Jews to be citizens, for the ability of Catholics to serve in higher office, for Mormons, or Muslims, or Hindus, or atheists to be able to function as citizens and share in the exercise of power without regard to their metaphysical convictions.
The right to the free exercise of religion is a hallmark of any real democracy, no less than the right to vote freely, to protest publicly, to a court of law and a jury of one's peers. Israel, as one of the few democracies in a region of continuing despotism and religious violence, has both a mandate and an opportunity to demonstrate the vitality of democracy with its embrace of raucous religious freedom. In a Jewish state, it is particularly obscene to favor one sect at the expense of all other expressions of contemporary Jewish vitality.
"You are the man!" a biblical Natan told King David when he violated prophetic ethics. And you, Natan Sharansky, are the man with sufficient stature and courage to restore to Israel the full measure of religious freedom for each stream of Judaism, throughout the Jewish State.
The Kotel is as good a place as any to launch that re-commitment to the Torah's vision of "one law," of unity without uniformity, and to Israel's imperfect but vigorous expression of democracy in action.
Mr. Sharansky, liberate that Wall!
Megillah 2a "What Makes a Worthy Leader?"
Megillah 2a "What Makes a Worthy Leader?"
Note: This post is the first of "Marginal Judaism," a new series of Talmud reflections. For the archive, please visit http://marginaljudaism.blogspot.com. To receive them via email, send a blank email to marginal_judaism-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.
Talmudic Text:
The Mishnah taught: "The Megilla was read on the 11th day of Adar." From where do we deduce this? From where do we deduce this?! …The rabbis decided that the scroll should be read on Mondays and Thursdays, in order to make it easier for the inhabitants of small villages, who usually came to the towns on Mondays and Thursdays for market. …We meant to say that the reading of the Megilla was decided by the Members of the Great Assembly (who lived earlier than the rabbis). Now, at the first glance, if the Members of the Great Assembly ordained it should be read on the 14th and 15th, how could the sages believe they had the power to abolish the ordinances of the Great Assembly? Have we not learned in a Mishnah that a Beit Din is not able to abolish the ordinances of its colleagues unless they are greater in wisdom and in numbers? Therefore we must say that all the mentioned days were ordained by the Great Assembly. So where, then, is the biblical hint for the dates? Said Rabbi Shamen bar Abba in the name of Rabbi Yochanan: It is written "To confirm these days of Purim in their times. (Est. 9:31), and "in their times" signifies that many possible times for reading the Scroll of Esther are to be ordained…
Do leaders believe their chief obligation is fulfilling the mandate they were handed?
Leadership is different than management. Whereas management directs optimal execution, leadership lives in discerning vision, shaping voice, and inspiring others to feel and act in alignment with that vision and that voice.
Leaders are not necessarily moral, their abilities are not inherently trustworthy, and a large quantity of followers does not indicate goodness.
So what, then, determines the worthiness of a leader?
Our text does not make clear the inner thoughts of the rabbis. But perhaps the sequence (only an excerpt is quoted above) of dissatisfying textual anchors for the observance of Purim indicates their own struggle for authenticity. The past might not dictate policy, but authentic leaders care about history. Hopefully their work within and on behalf of others is based in the resonance they share. It is possible, after all, that the text came after the Purim customs were already widespread, and the rabbis would therefore see as their goal the legitimizing, the "traditionalizing", of popular practice.
But it is also possible that the rabbis of antiquity were reacting to the presence of an absence, the void where God's Home in Jerusalem once stood. Perhaps, alternatively, they were reacting to Priestly elitism and the widespread grief of the newly re-traumatized Jewish People. So they did their best to stabilize, strengthen, and inspire - using the vocabulary of the past to recreate their world.
Regardless of their intent, the rabbis in our text (and its editor!) were human beings occupying positions of leadership. Their fallibility is inherent, and their motives are, at best, discernible after the fact.
In that light, our text offers us this challenge: Is it possible to trust those in positions of influence to lead with integrity? Does the embrace of the past define integrity? Does imagining the future betray it?
The only bellwether might be honest self-reflection. And the subjective nature of your response should also indicate your own desire to lead.
But then the question should occur to you: Where is your own reactive leadership impulse coming from? Can you be trusted any more than anyone else?
Philadelphia Inquirer: Speak & Act as Prophets Did (King & Heschel)
Speak and Act as Prophets Did: The Teachings of Dr. King & Rabbi Heschel
By Sister Mary Scullion and Rabbi Arthur Waskow
Forty-four years ago, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was killed. Forty years ago, his close friend and prophetic partner, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, died. In biblical tradition, "40" is a ripe number, suggesting a pregnant pause before a major transformation – Moses and the Israelites wandering 40 years in the desert, Jesus' 40 days of temptation. What do we learn from their teachings, a generation since their deaths?
The two of them were, in their day, an odd couple. King was a product of the black Baptist church, raised in the oppressive confines of the Jim Crow South and the crucible of American racism. Heschel, descended from a long line of Polish Hasidic rabbis, fled Nazi-dominated Europe (where most of his family was killed).
A towering Jewish intellectual, theologian, and mystic, Heschel brought ancient Hasidic spirituality into the tumultuous world of social activism in the 1960s. Given his writings on the religious struggle of the modern person in a confusing world, and on the urgent relevance of the ancient Hebrew prophets, it was no surprise that he found a kindred spirit in King.
Today, religion is often divisive (even violently so); in the 1960s, Dr. King and Rabbi Heschel modeled a friendship rooted in deep admiration and mutual affirmation of their respective spiritual traditions. Today, we debate the role of religion in the civil arena – usually resulting in rancorous and judgmental culture wars; King and Heschel were public theologians and spiritually grounded activists, witnessing to the power of faith in the service of social transformation.
The iconic photograph of the two of them together at the 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery is emblematic of the best possibilities of the vision of the civil rights struggle. (Later, Heschel noted famously of that experience, "I felt my legs were praying.")
Heschel and King worked closely together in spiritually rooted prophetic opposition to racism, poverty, and militarism in American society. Like the biblical prophets, they spoke truth to power - but also spoke truth to the disempowered, who can only win their fair share of democratic power by learning and acting on the truth. They spoke truth to their own supporters, even when those supporters urged them to hush - as many did when they spoke out against the Vietnam War. The two of them witnessed to the absolute unity of means and ends, as embodied in nonviolence. The two of them likewise demonstrated a deep unity of prayer and social action.
A biblical generation later, many Americans who likewise see the connection of faith and social transformation are drawing on the legacy of these two brothers. What issues would Dr. King and Rabbi Heschel address today?
Perhaps the mass imprisonment of more than two million Americans, most of them black or Hispanic. Perhaps the breathtaking increase in poverty and economic inequality. Perhaps the horrendous violence in our society.
Perhaps the physical and legal attacks on American Muslims and Hispanic immigrants. Perhaps the government dysfunction that threatens our financial stability. Perhaps our collective failure to address the climate crisis that threatens the web of life, including human life, on our planet.
These two prophets would speak forcefully to the image of God in each person, the inherent dignity in even the most marginalized of our sisters and brothers. They would give voice to the "beloved community"
as the ultimate answer to the crises of poverty, homelessness, addictions, and violence. They would translate the language of Torah, Prophets, and Gospels into a concrete and compelling vision of justice and peace for our world today.
And they would not be content with rhetoric alone: In their generation, they modeled putting faith into action, and today they would urge us to collective action to address injustice and work for the common good. They would insist that any genuine vision must translate into concrete policies, legislation, and real public action.
But now that is our task. Today, no less than in his day, we are confronted with what Dr. King called "the fierce urgency of now." As much now as then, we are challenged by Rabbi Heschel's words: "In a free society, when evil is done, some are guilty; all are responsible."
Forty years have passed since Dr. King and Rabbi Heschel worked and witnessed among us. Perhaps, like a biblical generation that represents a pregnant pause before a major transformation, we may be ready to act for a transformative rebirth in our time.
Sister Mary Scullion is executive director of Project HOME. Rabbi Arthur Waskow is director of the Shalom Center. Their organizations are among more than 50 sponsoring the King-Heschel Festival at Mishkan Shalom in Philadelphia on Jan. 4 and 5. For more information, see www.mishkan.org/story/heschel-king-festival.
Rabbi Gary S. Creditor: "The Blood of the Children Cries Out From the Ground"
The Blood of the Children Cries Out From the Ground!
Rabbi Gary S. Creditor
Over the many years that I can remember, beginning with the assassination of President John Kennedy with a rifle, the sound of the bullet was echoed by the citation of the second amendment and the "right to bear arms." Whenever a catastrophe occurs, whoever cites past catastrophes always omits the earliest ones, which never lose their terribleness, because it is too hard, too painful, too long a list to remember to recite all the names of all the places.
I want to talk about the "Right to Live." This is not the cliché lifted from the Declaration of Independence, "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness," even as that is a very significant statement. I want to talk about the "Right to Live" of six and seven year olds to grow up, discover the universe, and fulfill their destinies. I want to talk about the "Right to Live" of the people dedicated to teaching them, who threw themselves in harm's way. I want to talk about the "Right to Live" of all innocent people, struggling in a difficult world, being good people, loving men and women, who are murdered, wantonly murdered by those with guns in their hands, in any place and at any time. No just now.
I want to know something. Doesn't the "Right to Live" supercede the "right to bear arms?" Isn't there something more important than guns? Isn't there something more fundamental than the caliber of the bullet? Isn't there something more precious than the rate of fire? Doesn't the "Right to Live" trump all other rights? To paraphrase the verse from Genesis from the story of Cain and Abel, "the blood of the children, the blood of their adult defenders screams out to Me from the ground." It is to them, the dead, to our children, the living, that the answers must be given.
I want to know something. Does the 'right to kill' supercede the "Right to Live?" What is the purpose of guns? I remember being a little boy with a holster and cap guns. You had to put one cap in each and it made a bang. For some reason I had a Mattel gun that used a roll of caps and you could make a lot of sustained noise. I had no idea what I was doing. I had no idea what it meant. I don't know why my parents bought them for me. Our children never had toy guns. Never! Ever! Stop the nonsense that guns don't kill. Yes they do! Yes, guns kill because they are held by people. Guns kill people. Guns kill animals. Killing begets killing, which begets more and more and more until there is no end! The blood of the children cries out from the ground: stop the killing! Who needs guns?!
I want to know something. Is the "Right to Live" held so cheaply because the profit is great from the proliferation of the "culture to kill" through video, movies, music – do you listen to the message of the lyrics?, toys, television and the manufacture of guns? What is more important? To make money and elevate the culture of death? Or the culture of life? Is this the America we want? Is this the epitome of our society? Is this the "alabaster city?" Is this the country that we want God to bless? I enjoy the old westerns on cable. Where is the blood? Where is senseless violence? None. Justice, honesty, truth were the elevated values that would triumph, but killing was not glorified. There was even a sense of remorse by the guy who was clearly good. Today it is reversed! The more gore, the more horror, the more blood and guts and cut open bodies, the more explosions and destructions. Just because there is the technical capability to show all this, do we have to? Should we? Must we? What world are we making? Do we promote fine arts? Do we esteem classical literature? Do we elevate excellent music? What do you expect to reap, when the seeds of destruction are so blatantly planted? The blood of the children cries out from the ground: make us a better world! Make us a world of peace!
I want to know something. Against whom are we bearing arms? Do we fear invasion from our neighbors to the north and south? Do we fear our neighbors who live next door? Do we intend to confront the local and state police? Would not intruders be more deterred by active alarm systems? Will the ability to defend against an intruder outweigh the number of deaths caused by people with guns who are ill-trained and ill-tempered? Will the proliferation of more guns, in a society already more armed than any in the world, make us safer, securer, surer? Are these quasi-military, high powered, quick-firing guns, the ones used to shoot duck, deer and antelope? The blood of the children cries out from the ground. They demand to know: who needs these guns?
I want to know something. I remember when living in New York it was decided to close facilities dealing with mental health, as it was deemed better to integrate these people into society at large. It never happened. If they had, they were abandoned to their families who did not have means to cope with the needs. Otherwise, they were on the streets. It really wasn't the philosophy, it was the cost. They would rather build prisons that honestly deal with the needs of society. They didn't want to deal with people. People with mental issues are "nobody's fault." They are members of our universal family. They are the easiest to cut in any budget. They are seemingly invisible. They don't have a lobby like the NRA. Now, now, it is on the agenda! The blood of the children cries out from the ground: this is the real cliff! This is the real cliff over which our world is destroyed! Fix it! Repair it! Mend it! Do not ignore us!
I want to know something. How many innocent deaths will it take for our elected officials to be leaders with moral backbones and not wimps who pander for votes? Where is their moral courage to face the mirror and know that day after day they have labored in society's vineyard to make each hamlet, each town, each county, each city better for each boy and girl, infant and adult, young and old, reach and poor, healthy and ill? How many tears must be shed by human beings? How much blood must spill in movie theatres, college campuses, high schools, elementary schools, shopping mall parking lots? How many hearts must break when the bell tolls as each name is read, as each tender body is buried? What must it take for delegates, senators, representatives, and president will finally act?
Until then, every morning, noon and night, at the break of dawn and the setting of the sun, in the dead of night and the brightness of the midday sun, The blood of the children cries out from the ground! And it will continue to cry and cry, scream upon scream, like those in Newtown, Connecticut, until someone, someone will give them an answer.
Let Shabbat in. We all need it.
Abraham Joshua Heschel z"l was introduced to address a packed auditorium somewhere. He walked to the podium and whispered to the crowd: "I saw a miracle on my way here tonight." Every person leaned forward in their chairs, waiting. Heschel continued, "I saw a flower. Isn't that amazing?" It's too easy to miss simple miracles.
There's a lot of work to do - a whole world to recreate - but let Shabbat in. Breathe deep. Let it in.
We'll continue the work in 25 hours. It will wait. It will still be there. The world needs you to be strong enough to do your work.
Save The DateS: Two Scholars in Residence in Jan and Feb! @cnsberkeley
Jan 18 (erev Shabbat) and Jan 19 (shabbat day)
CNS Scholar-in-Residence Rabbi Jason Klein, incoming president of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association!
Friday Night Dinner/Davening (Jan 18): During Dinner, Rabbi Klein will deliver a talk entitled "The Relationship Between Prophecy & Authenticity" (rsvp required, stay tuned for details!)
After Kiddush Learning (Jan 19): Rabbi Klein will lead a teaching entitled: "A Text Study on My Favorite Parsha"
Rabbi Jason Klein is the incoming President of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association and executive director of University of Maryland (Baltimore County). Rabbi Klein's particular Jewish interests include text study, liturgy, music, creative rituals, and midrash. He is committed to Israeli-Palestinian peace and justice, inter-movement and interfaith dialogue and collaboration, gender and LBGT concerns, and issues of social justice in general.
Feb 9 (shabbat day)
Netivot Shalom's Masorti Scholar-in-Residence: Rabbi Andy Sacks, director of the Rabbinical Assembly of Israel!
Rabbi Sacks will deliver the Drasha during Shabbat morning services and will also present the after-kiddush learning!
Rabbi Andrew Sacks is the director of the Rabbinical Assembly of Israel and the Religious Affairs Bureau. Ordained by the Jewish Theological Seminary, and the only Masorti Mohel practicing in Israel, Rabbi Sacks is the author of Masorti Matters, a provocative online column for the Jerusalem Post.
SIDDUR TOV LEHODOT! ::
Rabbi Jack Moline: "On the Occasion of the Murders of Schoolchildren" @RabbiAssembly @PICOnetwork
"On the Occasion of the Murders of Schoolchildren"
Rabbi Jack Moline
To my dear friends, my dear congregants.
I send you this column in lieu of a sermon, largely because I know that children will be present on Saturday morning. We will talk about the tragedy – I have asked Alan Gura, our congregant who argued the landmark Supreme Court decision on the Second Amendment – to have a public conversation with me in the place of Torah study on Shabbat morning. But I do not expect that conversation to speak to matters of the heart, even if we hope to address the heart of the matter.
Rabbi Shaul Praver of Newtown was correct when he said there was no theological justification to be offered here. These deaths were unjustifiable. Everything about them is tragic, including the sad story of the young man who succumbed to the urgings of the evil impulse, for whatever reasons.
You know that I have a particular interest and involvement with public policy. It should come as no surprise to you that I have long been in favor of stricter gun control measures, and that I am not particularly picky about where we start – assault weapons, ammunition identification, licensing, etc. I found Gov. McDonnell's willingness to "discuss" arming teachers to be reprehensible; no one will be safer because a loaded gun, accessible and usable in an emergency, is present in a classroom.
But I am also well aware that the Bill of Rights grants our citizens the right to bear arms, and no responsible advocate can ignore the role that self-protection plays in the law, lore and culture of America.
I am also a supporter of public and private resources for those who struggle with mental and emotional challenges. We should not forget that such services have a checkered history in our country. For far too long, "mental patients" were consigned to the kinds of facilities depicted in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. One such facility is the Southbury Training School in Southbury, CT. Mostly it was a residential facility for people who were mentally compromised – "retarded" – though it also had wards for residential psychiatric patients. In 1986, admissions were closed as part of the Reagan administration's reimagining of mental health treatment in our country. In 1997, the courts prohibited Southbury from taking in any new patients. Some 750 older adults still live there, grandfathered by the charter. It is worth noting that President Reagan proposed out-patient clinics and respite care for the deinstitutionalized adults and children, but that Congress did not fund that half of the proposal.
It is also worth wondering what kinds of reforms might have transformed the facility into an enlightened temporary or permanent home for people tormented by mental illness. Southbury Training School is about twenty minutes from Newtown.
Speculations aside, this much is true: until Adam Lanza shot his mother, nothing he did was illegal. The guns his mother owned were legally purchased, properly stored and used in supervised sporting environments. In fact, at least one gun dealer in Danbury, the next town over, reported that he refused to sell a gun to Adam that week. Even if the rifle used to murder the children had remained under the assault weapons ban, the automatic pistols he carried would have remained just as legal and just as lethal.
And health care wish lists aside, this much is true: Adam Lanza was receiving regular expert care from a family that provided the resources they believed they needed for his treatment.
And security concerns aside, this much is true: this young murderer entered a secure school by shooting out the glass in the security doors, not by taking advantage of laxity or familiarity.
So in spite of my inclinations and my concerns about public policy, there is no proposal being offered for gun control, mental health treatment or security that would have prevented this tragedy if Adam Lanza was bent on mayhem and murder. I am not going to refrain from participating in efforts to reconsider the status quo in any of those matters, but neither will I – nor should you – pretend that political battles for or against reform could have, would have or even might have changed the outcome. Nancy Lanza did not believe her son to be capable of the acts he committed.
So are we to throw up our hands and consider the deaths of these 26 sacred souls to be simply forfeit to the random uncertainties of life? Absolutely not. As a country, as a society and as individuals we have soul-searching to do, because these children, like the victims at the Michigan gurdwara, the Colorado movie theater, the Ft. Hood administrative center and the streets of our city and others are not acceptable losses in our efforts to build a beloved community and an admirable society.
As President Obama said, certain things have to change. The first among them is in our hearts. We must listen with compassion to those who find value in the status quo. We must listen with compassion to those who demand change in the status quo. But the status quo is far from static; it is a moving target, to use an unfortunate metaphor. Neglect of gun laws, mental health care and intelligent safety concerns has created an environment in which incremental complexities have been addressed by inadequate and outdated methodologies.
As a Jewish community we have contributions to make to these discussions. I am not the first to suggest them, but I am impressed again that the wisdom of Jewish tradition is not applicable just to Jews.
First of all is the concept if tohar haneshek, "purity of arms," that is impressed on every teenager in Israel as they enter military service. Israelis are surrounded by automatic weapons, yet criminal gun violence, especially by private citizens, is rare. Why? Because rather than glorifying firearms as an expression of personal power, Israelis are taught that a gun of any kind is defensible only if used appropriately. The role of guns in American society, encouraged by political, entertainment and digital advocates, deemphasizes the Constitutional concerns and relegates weapons of death to toys, the equivalents of basketballs and tennis racquets, employed by cartoon characters who recover in time for their next action flick or game level. In America, guns are sacred, but they are not tohar, clean, pure, uncontaminated. A reorientation of attitudes toward firearms is a necessary prelude to legislation.
Don't think we can do it? No one thought we could wean America off of cigarettes, either. We may not complete the task, but we must not refrain from it.
Second of all is the wisdom of Jewish law concerning human responsibility. The great blessing of America is that we affirm the rights of all people – ethical norms like life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, which are unalienable, and legal norms which are (in spite of our belief otherwise) legislated by Constitutional amendment. But in Jewish law, rights are a by-product of people meeting their obligations to a just society.
To be sure, the responsibilities of Jewish law do not produce all of the rights we enjoy as Americans, which is why openness to America is important to faithful Jews. But equally true, Americans misunderstand "rights" to mean "unlimited entitlements." There are times that the Jewish demand to set aside personal benefit for the sake of higher principles is a necessary contribution to deliberations in our country.
These discussions ought to take place surrounding gun ownership, mental health care and security. And, without going into detail, the additional wisdom of Jewish law and tradition on private and public safety, human dignity and its limits, and reasonable expectations of government should be part of mix. We all have our opinions of what we prefer politically; the value added we bring as Jews is a perspective that is our legacy.
And while there is much room for differing opinions in our rich tradition, it is worth knowing as a Jew when your political opinions exist close to or outside the margins of Jewish thought. And if that's the case, then you'll have to come to terms with the question of just how "Jewish" your beliefs are.
I am sad, angry and determined by the deaths of these innocent children. I see them in the faces of the kids in our religious school, in our pre-school and in our neighborhood. I feel in my heart the panic of every parent as he or she considers even the remote possibility that such horror could be visited on our own precious children.
I am resolved not to be controlled by those feelings, because the worst way to make rules and laws is in an attempt to revise the past. We must cry for a while and hold our loved ones close. And then, when the frantic beat of our hearts is no longer pounding in our ears, we must take a sober look at how to make this society a better, safer and freer place to live.
And then we must have the courage to act.
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text:
Tokyo Olympics may be 'Robot Games'
Stephen Wade
Tokyo – Tokyo's Olympics may become known as the "Robot Games."
Organizers on Friday showed off robots that will be used at the new National Stadium to provide assistance for fans using wheelchairs.
Tokyo Olympic official Masaaki Komiya pointed out that Japan is known for its robot technology, and the 2020 Summer Games are a good place to show off.
"Robots should not overwhelm people," Komiya, the vice director general to the Tokyo Olympics, told a news conference. "Robots are something that have an amicable relationship with human beings and can work together. That's the kind of robots we envision."
The robots are made by major Olympic sponsor Toyota Motor Corp. Toyota officials said 16 of the so-called "human support robots" will be used at the National Stadium with five other "delivery support robots" also being available.
Not to be outdone, Panasonic Corp.– also a major Olympic sponsor – showed off its "power assist suit." When worn, the suit offers support to the back and hip area and allows for heavy objects to be lifted with less effort. Panasonic said 20 of the suits will be used at the Olympics and could help guests with their luggage and with other lifting chores.
"Through this occasion, people in the world will be able to realize how advanced Japan is in terms of robot technology," Hideyo Hirata, director of technology services for the Tokyo Olympics, told reporters.
Minoru Yamauchi of Toyota, the general manager for 2020 Robot Development, said the automaker is branching out and becoming a "mobility company."
"We have been looking at how we can support the daily lives of people, and how we can develop robots that can partner with daily life," Yamauchi said. "In the Tokyo Olympics, there will be many guests in wheelchairs and we would like them enjoy the games without worrying about their mobility."
Yoshifumi Uchida, general manager of Panasonic's Paralympic department, said its power assist suit technology was developed partly because of Japan's aging population. This could help get more women and the elderly into the working population.
"We would like to have a society where people can work without caring about gender differences or age differences," Uchida said. "When you are carrying a suitcase or a heavy box, this is where the power assist suit becomes valuable."
He said the suits would also be used away from the venues in "related facilities and airports."
He said the suit improved "efficiency" by about 20 percent, allowing the wearer to lift more, and for a longer time. Battery life is about four hours.