What is a Jew 101

The NY Times piece about how Yeshiva University is impacted by the Madoff scandal has a good quote from a teacher Rabbi Blech which sums up well an issue I struggle with:

“This overrides everything else,” said Rabbi Blech, who has taught at Yeshiva for 42 years. “It is an opportunity to convey to students that ritual alone is not the sole determinant of our Judaism, that it must be combined with humanity, with ethical behavior, with proper values, and most important of all, with regard to our relationship with other human beings.”

I am often struck with the paradox of "religious" Jews who are more observant that I am but who's personal and business lives seem no more caring and ethical than anyone else and in some cases they engage in clearly mean and destructive acts. The rules regarding how you should treat others seem so much more important than the laws that govern things like dress and diet. I also feel that most people don't think about how their jobs and investments may have negative impacts on others. Hopefully this scandal could open a dialog about ethics, behavior, business, and money in synagogue.

Ramesy Lewis - Live at the Lighthouse, 1965

I've been just listening to Ramesy Lewis play the Beatles "A Hard Day's Night" - he is a great jazz pianist and this interpretation of this classic song is a fun tune to enjoy.

I have been craving some jazz after listening to This American Life - Music Lessons. This is an old one from a live show from 1998 but it is pretty funny (I don't like the live ones as much as the produced regular shows). The jazz part is interesting in that in 'Papa Was Not A Rolling Stone' a story by David Sedaris, David's dad trys to get the kids to like jazz and they don't like it at all. My folks were never into music and I wish they would have tried to introduce me to some great music. The way Sedaris describes how his Dad tried to sell the kids on the great tunes sold me.

Now I am enjoying his "Hang On Sloopy"

How are you feeling?

World Record: World's Dumbest Parents

This stupid story about the little Adolph Hitler kid who could not get his name printed on a birthday cake is all over the net. "The father of a toddler called Adolf Hitler Campbell says it is unfair that a store denied him a birthday cake with his child's name on it."

It is not about the cake or whether or not to print the name, it is about why a parent would name their kid Adolph Hitler. It sounds like this guy is a dumb neo-nazi selfish idiot. He obviously just wants attention and to bring this kind of attention onto your children seems very wrong.

I bet this guy will get serious threats as a result of this story. Remember those blond teenager girls a few years ago who were neo-nazi singers, I thought they had to move and go into hinding. Unless these kids are home schooled, I don't see how they would function with other children and parents in a community.

I had to deal with this issue somewhat personally because my grandfather's name was Adolph and I wanted to name my kids after him but chose another common name that starts with "A" to honor his memory.

Why doesn't the dad have his name legally changed and call his kid a normal name?

Side effects may include dizziness, nausea, loss of clothing, loss of money and more....

"Tequila may not be right for everyone. Women who are pregnant or nursing should not use Tequila. However, women who wouldn't mind nursing or becoming pregnant are encouraged to try it."

this mock drug ad is LOL funny. I have heard them play this a few times on Stephanie Miller.

You'll Shoot Your Eye Out! - Not According to the DNR

Look Mom, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources suggests that a BB gun is a great X-mas gift.

211 arbor vitae trees, $10,000 and many colorful smiles

Every year my kids really enjoy looking at the holiday lights along University Avenue.
"Which one is your favorite color?"
"Can we go by the holiday lights?"

Now the man who has put the lights out each year, dentist Jack Kammer, has written a book about the lights. "The Story of the University Avenue Holiday Lights" was published this year. It is a great story about how he bought the land, planted the trees and put the LED lights out. Seems a bit of an odd thing to write a book about but we really love and appreciate the effort and all proceeds from the book goes into keeping the lights going. Nice Isthmus recommendation and summary of the book too.
NBC15 story too.

photo from Madison Guy on Flickr, a guy who takes some great photos around Madison.

My Public Health Idea (warning potty talk ahead)

I was reading a Straight Dope about why men should wash their hands when they urinate (it is not the urine it is the coliform bacteria that may make its way to the back to the front) and I had an idea that would possibly prevent some of the cases of infections that make people sick from Salmonella and other bacteria that make their way into our bodies from various sources but mostly food.

I know every bathroom has a sign that reminds employees to wash their hands and I bet most do. The problem is that some people both men and women may get some bacteria on their pants, belt, etc. before they wash. The solution, put small sinks in the stall next to the toilet or have individual bathrooms insted of group ones. The problem is that in a public bathroom, men go number 2 or for women either one, and then you have to tuck in your shirt, button your pants/ skirt, etc. before you wash your hands. No one wants to walk out of the stall with their pants open falling down, so they do it in the stall. While folks try to be careful the reality is that there may be cases where the exact bacteria you are trying to limit from getting spread around may get spread right on the front of your pants. Then you wash your hands and get back to work and then touch your pants again and then touch the Tuna Niçoise you are making, or your mouse at work and voila the bacteria are out there.

While it could be a bit more expensive, bathrooms could be redesigned to accomidate such a change in new buildings fairly easily. While this will not prevent every case, even making a small dent in the 40,000 people who get salmonellosis a year seems worth trying. Another cheaper option would be to do some PSAs to communicate this problem to people so that it becomes more acceptable to walk around in the bathroom with your pants undone.

Election for Obama's seat

Headline this morning "Gov. may allow special election for Senate seat" This is dumb. I know the legislature wants to do something but this seems unnecessary.

While I don't think Blago is an ax murderer, he will probably be convicted of crimes and have to serve jail time and will likely be impeached if he doesn't quit. Statewide elections are hugely expensive and Obama only has two years left on his senate term, so who ever was picked would have to run again for election soon anyway (I think this is right). There is a reason that many states allow for the Gov to pick someone for senate seats that become open. If Blago picked someone now he would even more so likely not pick someone linked to any personal gain for him.

"If you can see me right now I am actually naked"

That is not me talking but The Hoff. I can't decide which of the great David "the Hoff" Hasselhoff ring tones I want to buy for my cell phone. These are not his great music which I hear is popular in Germany but witty banter like "I am just being Hoffalisous with my signature brand of Hoff-isims".

EXTRA: I noticed for some reason a lot of people have found this link on my blog (why??) and the original link with the great Hoff ringtones is dead!?! These were awesome and you may still be able to find some out there but I am having trouble finding them. The offical Hoff page even has link but it is also not available! You can get the Hoff to tell you how to get to the podiatrist on your Garmen which is pretty cool. There are cool mugs as well. I guess these ringtones may have only existed in my mind......:(

I am sure a new tax on mink coats will bring in a few billion

The NY Governor is proposing new taxes and fees to help with the state deficit; proposals include fur coat tax. I will just go to New Jersey to buy my furs.

Web Anonymity/ Privacy

Two internet privacy things caught me recently.

1. You face can be all over facebook even if you don't have an account and don't give any permission to anyone to use your image. I recently found a bunch of photos of my brother-in-law that someone he used to know put on their photo pages. He is not aware of this and is not on FB. Depending on the person's privacy settings, those photos could be visible to anyone. Kind of weird if you did not want your pictures out there.

2. I did a search for my name on Google and found this blog. Most readers are friends and know it is mine but I purposely did not put my full real name on the blog because I did not want to be applying for a job or something and have someone find the blog. I also thought it best that if someone stumbled on the blog, that they would not easily be able to figure out who I am and my address, identity theft, etc. Not that I reveal some deep dark secrets, I just thought it best to keep my blog seperate from my real life, I am a state government worker. I guess my attempt at psyudo-annomity was unsuccesful. The good thing is however that there are many folks with my name so you'd have to dig deep. Odd that I did not find anything about my work life on google since I have my name on many public documents on the state website. Maybe I had to go really far into the hits.

Get on the Bus Gus

I am in support of the transit commissions decision to not raise the bus fair to $2. I think it would have resulted in lower ridership and fewer people relying on the bus as a way to get around. For Madison to be a economically successful region, we must have reliable bus service that is affordable as a transportation alternative. We want a couple to be able to buy a condo at Hilldale or in the Atwood neighborhood and only own one car and know that there will always be a bus to take them downtown. We want a family who lives in Allied Drive to not have to buy 1 or 2 cars for their family to get around. But if a person who lives in Parkwood Hills or Wexford Village, they should not have reasonally expected to be served by the bus system and it is more of a luxuray that our city can't afford. Carpool to work.

I would rather see service cuts to the uneconomical parts of town where it is unrealistic to expect to take the bus on a regular basis. The metro system should be designed to serve specific densely populated areas and busy corridors where people work and live and lower income areas and major employment areas like the hospitals, UW, hill farms, and the capitol. We can't expect to have a bus service to all the sprawling subdivisions in town.

The Mayor is upset with the commission for making this decision but I would rather have the commission and the metro management figure out how to make the reductions.

Doesn't this look like a fake snowman?

a subtle use of vocal counterpoint +

major key tonality + a prominent accordion part = Ana Ng by TMBG (according to Pandora)



I don't want the world, I just want your half

Putting Science to Good Use

Some great minds have put a lot of effort into creating a true beer with the highest alcohol content ever. The Isthmus online reports that "Madison brewers team up to make biggest beer ever - Great Dane and Capital Brewery collaborate on Reinheitsgebot challenge". They are shooting for over 17& alcohol. The beer science challange sounds very interseting.

This has only been done before by using things like sugar and maple syrup which is a no no for true beer which can only include barley, hops, water and yeast.

Don't worry, this will not contribute to Wisconsin's now national reputation as a bunch of drunks.

“We’re considering selling it 22-ounce ‘bomber’ bottles, which seems appropriate,” jokes Nelson.

"No matter what the serving vessel, a beer with this high alcohol will be sold in limited quantities,” adds LoBreglio. That means it’ll be available over the Great Dane’s bar in brandy snifters with only one per customer. He also notes that any bottled in bombers would likely be sold via a lottery process due to the small volume of the batch.

SHOW ME THE LIST!

I have noticed an annoying trend on the web for sites like Money Magazine and BuisnessWeek that put out interesting sounding lists of things on the web. I want to check out the list but no, they won't just put the list up on the website, it is a stupid slide show thing and you have to click page by page to see the list. For example, BusinessWeek just came up with their list of the most expensive small towns by Prashant Gopal. Can you see the list, no, you have to go to the slide show and go one by one. Then it occurred to me why they do this, so you have to click more and see more ads = $ for the site = Annoying.

Leno Move Smart

I don't agree with the Chuck Barney article "Jay Leno's prime-time move just another uninspired NBC idea". To me it is strange how TV stations always just want to stick to the same out dated scheduling system. Ever major network still puts their best half-hour of news on at 5:30 (CT) when most people in the Midwest are still on their way home from work. The great "late-night" shows of Leno and Letterman are very solid TV but at 10:30 (CT), that is too late usually for me and my friends, especially parents of young kids who get up early. If they put on this new Leno at 9:00 (CT) then you may get many people who want to watch this type of show who can't stay up for the late ones. They finally started to have local TV news at 9:00 here which I bet does very well for those who don't want to watch the local news at 10:00.

I don't understand why these networks are so tied to these set schedules that they have been doing for years. Change things up a little, maybe more people will watch.

Blago Wants His Back Scratched

I have not read a ton about the Illinois Governor's troubles but regarding the supposed action to sell the open senate seat I am not sure what I have read so far is that different than what many politicians do around the country every day. While he is very crass and blunt, what politician would ever want to have their private political discussions recorded without their knowledge.

ROD BLAGOJEVICH states that he will put “[Senate Candidate 4]” in the Senate “before I just give fucking [Senate Candidate 1] a fucking Senate seat and I don’t get anything.” (Senate Candidate 4 is a Deputy Governor of the State of Illinois)….

ROD BLAGOJEVICH states that he will appoint “[Senate Candidate 1] . . . but if they feel like they can do this and not fucking give me anything . . . then I’ll fucking go [Senate Candidate 5].”…

Later in the conversation, ROD BLAGOJEVICH said he knows that the President-elect wants Senate Candidate 1 for the Senate seat but “they’re not willing to give me anything except appreciation. Fuck them.”…

Politics is all about making deals, giving others what they want to get something in return. It is the name of the game. While some of what he supposedly wants is personal for him and his wife, isn't all political dealing personal, the person getting something is trying to keep their support up so they can get reelected, more power, etc. You don't think that there is some discussions like this before supporters get all the nice jobs like ambassador and other appointments? If you make a big effort to help me by doing X then there will be something later for you, I won't forget the favor....blah blah.

It is not just Chicago and IL, it goes on all the time. When any pol hands out perks, they expect campaign contributions, support, etc. I feel that the public hears of these things and thinks OMG, this is terrible, through the bastard under the bus, but when similar things happen all the time. How do you think a candidate raiaes money, they just talk about health care policy reform and checks just pour in? Give me a break. Politics is an ugly world and Blago was just dumb enough to get caught and put it a bit further than he should have.

Not Romantic Comdey - Rachel Getting Married

Saw a very good - depressing film this weekend - Rachel Getting Married.

Anne Hathaway was great and really gave a powerful dramatic performance - a big move for her. It was one of those performances that is so good that you really are turned off from the character and are very uncomfortable around her disturbing personality.

Makes any family with problems seem mild by comparison. The whole family dynamic seems awkward and tense. Rosemarie Dewitt, Rachel, did a great job of seeming to be a totally together "normal" person but then really lets us in on her serious psychological hangups. She is by the way a beautiful woman.

The way it was shot with these close-in hand held cameras was very effective at making everything seem real and true to the tension in the story.

The multicultural scenes, music and dancing seemed cool and fun but strange. I am not sure how much that played into the plot. Somewhat seemed to distract from the core plot issues. I heard one review suggest that the wedding dancing was excessive but I did not think so, it was so visualising interesting and the views of the faces of the characters was very important. You were always waiting for Kim to go off and do drugs or something.

Makes you think, (SPOILER ALERT) why was their relationship with their mother so distant?

Was the mother largely to blame for the death of the kid? Is the mother to blame for Kim turning into an addict at such an young age?

During the wedding weekend fighting, was Rachel wrong or was Kim wrong? Rachel should not have been so self centered but on the other hand, Rachel seemed to be excessively upset at how much attention Kim wanted.

Overall, I recommend the movie but it is not a positive film and it is upsetting.

East West

For some reason I have always thought that Minneapolis seems like a far away western place from Illinois and Wisconsin because they have radio station that start with K.

Are You My Mother?

I don't know why there is still this fascination with Sarah Palin but Andrew Sullivan from the Atlantic Monthly Blog has an interesting conspiracy theory story questioning whether Sarah Palin really is the mother of Trig. You may say, who cares? I don't really and I don't think she has any political future. But once I started reading this I could not stop. He raises very good points.

The latest question is raised by a photo of Palin supposedly taken 3 weeks before she gave birth. I know my wife's belly looked a heck of a lot bigger than that at 35 weeks.

To me the most key point is why would she just want to end this stupid theory and prove it wrong providing some basic medical records:

"the Palin camp has had months to provide what would be instantly available records to dismiss all and every "insane" blog speculation about this. And yet none came - on or off the record.

I begged the McCain campaign by private email and in a private meeting to give me something - anything - to kill the story off. I promised to run any evidence that would blow this out of the water. That offer still stands. Please make me look like an idiot for asking these questions. But they didn't offer a thing, asserting that even asking the question was an outrageous reputation-destroying offense.

LATER

All that's needed is some medical records of her pregnancy which, as a Down Syndrome pregnancy, would have a large pile of medical documentation easily released. There is no formal record of Trig's birth at Mat-Su Regional Medical Center, although there is a record of two other babies born on the same day.

Not Famous

I felt very not important yesterday when I heard a friend give a long Wisconsin Public Radio interview and saw a colleague from another state featured in a magazine.

EXTRA UGGGGGHHHH!
I just posted this short piece above and then opened up Madison.com to see the local news of the day and saw my neighbor/ acquaintance/ fellow dad with young kids featured on the front of the paper. He is the head of Madison's Google office which had a photo-op event recently with local politicians. Apparently everyone is all excited about Google having a cheese-head office. The photo of Mayor Dave is pretty funny. One factual thing is that I am almost sure that James has run the Madison office longer than since '07.

now I feel like a rock star.

Insensative Ad = Insensative Laywers

Looking through the Milwaukee Business Journal today and found an ad which I find pretty insensitive towards those with Mental Illness. Tagline - "Lack of Responsiveness Driving you Crazy" and it shows a business type guy yelling with a straitjacket. The ad is for Davis Kuelthau a Wisconsin law firm and tries to make the point that they will be responsive to you as a customer.

The image is disturbing to anyone who has ever seen someone in a straitjacket or someone forcibly restrained for safety reasons for a mental illness. The expression alone "driving me crazy" is not so bad but the image of something that represents a person and a family in true crisis should not have been used. Show a guy at a desk with a phone in his hand yelling. Bad call.

EXTRA: I tried to find the ad because after thinking about this post I don't think that the advertisement sounds that bad but the image is mildly disturbing because the guy has his back to you, you can't see his face and seems not funny upset but sick upset. It seems a bit like an image out of some Silence of the Lambs or other sick movie like Saw or something else which I have not seen.

Bloggerheads Divas

Weird that Ann Althouse and Emily Bazelon are doing a bloggerheads TV episode. I don't read a lot of blogs or websites but I read Althouse often even though she bugs me but I also am a fan of Emily from listening to her on the Slate Political Gabfests. Cool smart writer who focus on law and politics.

Pretty interesting chat- good match.

Not Big Promotion for Richardson

Bill Richardson, my choice for president, was selected by Obama for Secretary of Commerce. For a guy who was governor, Secretary of Energy and UN Ambassador, this job doesn't seem that great. I understand a bit about the federal government, but I've always thought that the Commerce Secretary job is just a political, photo op, hand shake type of agency. What does Commerce even do? They don't negotiated with foreign nations on trade, they don't give out the community development block grant money and they don't set monetary or tax policy. What does he do? Can anyone name one thing that Bill Daley did as Commerce Secretary or who is Bush's Commerce sec.?

the beat to make ya booty go.....

"we want a lady in the street and a freak in the bed"

Usher and Ludacris - Yeah!

Creepy Big Daddy Ad

Have you seen this cozy Thanksgiving advertisement from Saxby Chambliss?

Two weird things:

1. the grandchildren call their grandfather "Big Daddy" and call out, "Vote for My Big Daddy"

2. Big Daddy inappropriately tickles his grand-daughter's chest at the end. yuk.

Unfortunately, polls show he will probably win.

States Need Help But How Much Should Each State Get?

The nation's governors are meeting with President-elect Barack Obama on Tuesday to press their case for at least $40 billion to help pay for health care for the poor and disabled and even more for infrastructure projects like road and bridge repair.

Most states are facing huge budget deficits and are forced to either raise taxes or cut services and programs and layoff workers. The economic consequences of these state budget problems will be significant in reductions in state contracts, less teachers being hired, etc. and the cuts will be harsh but how to fairly distribute any federal assistance to states seems like a tough job. It makes sense to focus on issues like health care programs and infrastructure but the same problem seems to exist.

Some state's have really made major cuts over the last 5 years and others have done less so. Some states have had tax increases while others have made tax cuts. The impact of the nations economic problems is not evenly distributed across the country, some industries are hit harder than others, some regions harder than others. Generally speaking some state budgets are in much better shape than others because of the solid wealth they have and others are really struggling because of a large need for services and major economic problems.

I wish I could be a fly on the wall during their meetings

I can see the new Saturday Night Live sketch already.



Actually, maybe the reason that Obama picked Hillary is so that Saturday Night Live can have some good Hillary, Bill, Obama humor.

snow sod?

The City of Madison is almost finished with our street/ sewer reconstruction project. As part of that, they dug up large areas of the terrace between the street and the sidewalk. I was pleased to see that the contractor filled the holes with dirt but I figured that they would seed or sod the area next spring. I was surprised that they put sod down on the bare soil right before Thanksgiving. This is Wisconsin!? It has been around freezing for weeks and we got a huge amount of snow yesterday. I am not a landscaping expert but I don't think you should lay sod given the time of year. If it all dies, that will be a large waste of money.

health care reform

Do you think that if you visit an ER in a wealthy Chicago suburb on a Friday evening, you should have to be kicked out of your room and moved out into the hallway while wearing only hospital gown and hooked up to an IV?