EZ Reads 2/21/11

Happy Presidents' Day!

• RafiG discusses R' Ginzberg's piece in the 5TJT on blog commenters and in particular on anonymity. I've long felt that while there's a purpose and reason in rare cases for someone to be anonymous, we'd all be better off if people decloaked and stood behind their statements. Anonymous commenting allows people to say things that not only would they not be comfortable saying under their name, but things they simply shouldn't be saying.
• Via Neil Harris, this Aish video is quite good. I like the subtitle: The only failure is not trying.
• Batya talks about the NCSY Ben Zakkai Dinner, where Serach's aunt and uncle David & Vivian Luchins were honored along with old family friends Zeev and Rivka Leff.
• 10 good tips for Microsoft Word (Gizmodo). I'll admit to only knowing 3-4 of these beforehand.
• How to complain to get what you want (Lifehacker). I've always found that coming in prepared is the key; when you have all the data and just coolly explain what the issue is, you'll usually get a positive response, though usually you'll have to ask for a supervisor. Note that the first person is almost always there to take your info and try to convince you you're wrong, and has no clue or ability to help, so just ask for their supervisor calmly and explain the issue to them.
• Here's links to starting your own society, with the basics of everything. Pretty cool. It's intended for third world countries to assist them in developing rapidly.

stam a post

Ezzie: post the story
Stam: why
Ezzie: why not? duh.

Wednesday, March 26th


Early this morning, i grabbed my coffee, abnormally large bag, outgoing
mail, and keys and left my apartment. I got to my car and unlocked it, threw in
my bag, sat down, put my coffee in the cup holder, mail on the dashboard, and
the keys in the ignition. Then i looked down.

Unexplainably, my skirt was dirty. I guess these things can go
unnoticed when you're getting dressed in the dark at 6:30 in the morning.
Frustrated and running late, i climbed out of the car and ran back up the front
steps. Something caught my eye.

Laying on the ground next to my neighbors Acura (why she drives an
acura and lives in my building i'll never know) was a bright green 'alligator
skin' wallet. I opened it up to check if it belonged to the girl next door. Out
of state address, don't we all have one? I checked the picture, but I've never
really seen the neighbors. My husband and I have no idea what her name is. My
husband has seen her coming and going to dance class, and she once asked for
help with her car. To us she is just "Dancer Girl".

We also have "Smokey Smokerson" (smokes in the building), "Crazy Paranoid
Guy" from downstairs who now lives in our walls (that's another story) and was
recently replaced by "Temple Convert" (he heard our zemiros one week and told us
he's converting through the Temple across the street), "The 4AM-ers" upstairs
(one of them always wakes up at four in the morning, walks around, and makes
coffee. We hear the spoon stirring. I don't know why. We hear coughing and
people blowing their noses also!), Lady with a Cat (the hair is everywhere,
including the laundry room*), and the Dumb Barking Dog (scares the daylights out
of me everytime i pass their door). Of course Cat, Dog, and Smoker could be
other people too, or the same person. Like i said, we never see these
people.

Anyway, I ran into the building with the wallet and into my apartment. My
husband heard me come in and came to see why I was back. I asked if he knew what
DG's name was, and he had no idea. I handed him the wallet and asked if that's
what she looked like, and he said it was her (pre-blonde, apparently). I found a
clean skirt and went to return the wallet.

What's the point? I don't know.

Maybe that it just goes to show what a small town place this is. In
previous cities i've lived in, you couldn't leave as much as a slurpee in a
*locked* car without a window getting smashed. Here a wallet can sit on the
ground all night and won't get touched. Or that in a place like Pickwick we'd
know everyone in our building and who the wallet belonged to, but here we have
to give the neighbors nicknames instead.

Maybe that was the reason that my skirt was unexplainably dirty. So i'd
have to go back inside, notice the wallet and return it to the owner.

Maybe by returning her wallet we left a good impression on her. Score
one for the Jews.

Maybe I felt like writing.

*yes, communal laundry room, this ain't
pickwick.

posted by stam :)

Ezzie's Blog Roundup, 10/31: Content

A number of interesting reads out there today, so straight to the point... (I'm trying a new format tool; to see excerpts hit the expand button.)

Today's good reads that I enjoyed include R' Yakov Horowitz - Silence of the Voices,

...the reluctance to express one’s personal opinion is quite upsetting. Why should an individual be uncomfortable or afraid to express his views in a rational and reasonable manner? ...

When people approach me and comment that they are pleased that I am writing columns which express sentiments they have been feeling for a long time, I sometimes ask them with a deadpan expression if I can quote them by name in my next article as having supported my opinions. It is difficult to describe the horror in their eyes and the ‘deer-in-the-headlights’ look I get whenever mention that to someone. I always walk away from these conversations saddened and worried – especially they occur with people who occupy high-profile positions in our kehilos.

R' Gil Student on the idea of depression being a sin,

Additionally, and this is crucial, everyone at various points in life feel depressed. I am concerned about increasing this negative feeling by declaring it sinful. To the opposite, we should be telling people that it is normal and will pass. Why make people feel sinful about something that is perfectly normal? (Note that extreme depression to the point of being disruptive to an individual's social functioning and/or activities of daily living is a disorder that can and should be treated clinically.)

See here about why the saying "מצוה גדולה להיות בשמחה תמיד It is a great mitzvah to be constantly happy" is entirely wrong if taken at face value: link.

Gil again quoting R' Aviner on the ridiculous idea that Olmert "deserves" cancer,

C. People who make comments like this think that they will help the Nation of Israel to repent. "You see, he did this and look what happened to him." This is repentance out of fear.

Ez: I think it's similar to what was touched on in this post about Judaism & Anxiety.

and Chaim continues discussing copying music that a person once owned - a very interesting discussion.

I maintain that there is a loss when a person copies it if he lost or damaged an old CD. There is a loss that up until recently he had to buy it again. This is the process with any other type of product you purchase and break or lose. I think that by using his logic your devaluing the original disc itself. Which gives way for people who think that no one loses if I copy my friends disc because there was no "PHYSICAL" item being stolen.

Elsewhere... Comments from the Peanuts Gallery joins the J-blogosphere with two very good posts; Parshablog (Josh Waxman) [via JBM] discusses R' Moshe's teshuva on stockings, which to my understanding makes them sound like a chumra; and this latest TEDTalk on electroshock therapy and depression was fascinating, particularly as the speaker is talking a lot about his own experiences.

Why We Love Jews

...because every once in a while, you get stories like this:

Here's a positive shoutout to the Baltimore community. My in laws have a friend who recently became unexpectedly disabled. She is a Federal employee, so my father in law was looking for other Federal employees to donate their vacation time so she wouldn't lose her job. Word got around to the Baltimore community, and many frum government workers have donated generously from their vacation time. Many of these people don't know my in laws or their disabled friend. Here's to you for a great chessed (kindness), Baltimore community.

As an aside, another good reason to love Baltimore (one of our favorite towns at SerandEz), courtesy of AlanLaz:

Once upon a time there was a rookie rabbi in town named Rabbi Weinreb. He was an accomplished psychologist and scholar…he took over a big shul and made a controversial speech that certain others in the community did not like. He received a blistering letter from someone telling him all kinds of things that really shook him up. He went to go talk to his good friend Rabbi Heineman, who asked him who wrote the letter. R' Weinreb said he didn't know because the guy did not sign his name. Rabbi Heineman ended the conversation right there and he said something along the lines of,"you're here to talk to me about a letter that shook you up that was written by a guy who wouldn't even sign his name?!.. He said that he never ever reads a letter unless it is signed - if the guys got something worth saying stand up and say it without hiding behind the curtain of anonymity.

Starting a Rumor? Hmmmm

Has anyone noticed the blogs are kind of dead lately? Ezzie hasn't been posting much. And you know he's busy (or sick) if he is not posting at least three times a day about god-knows-what. GH was peaking with his battles with R' Maroof, and now, nothing. Shifra probably poped a disk in her back while laughing and still hasen't managed to get up to post anything and Jameel..., well, Jameel is Jameel. (Maybe everyone is just hiding from the big bad New Blogger boogie man). So what can we mortals do to get the blogs jumping up a bit? To put some life into it!

Ladies and gentlmen, I see only one solution to this dilema. Everyone knows that controversy is what gets the most hits, therefore, I suggest starting a good ol' fashion rumor. Yup, nothing gets the folks more riled up then innocent gossip. It doesn't have to be anything mean-spirited. Even something like Jameel painting his toenails would do just nicely. I leave it up to you to discuss this on the thread or to chastise me for this horrible idea.