Why God never received a PhD

1. He had only one major publication.
2. It was in Hebrew.
3. It had no references.
4. It wasn't published in a refereed journal.
5. Some even doubt he wrote it by himself.

In a recent column in Tablet magazine, Leil Labowitz writes about bullying.  His column typically takes the Torah or Haftarah portion and uses those themes to address contemporary issues, in effect a d'var Torah, although the style is more free-form than the typical d'var Torah.  In this column, he is responding to the recent national conversation ( Read more... )

First of all, I'm not at all a fan of Rick Santorum, simply because I disagree with his values about the rights and responsibilities of individuals and community (meaning nation), and the relationship between the two.  However, Jon Stewart had a bit recently that made fun of his stand rejecting abortion even in the case of rape that missed the ( Read more... )

Wedding of one of best friend's daughters this weekend.  So I sent Dave out to brush up his wardrobe.  New shirts, ties, and shoes: check.  And no problem in getting them ( Read more... )

Lilianne is way too much of a distraction--can one be addicted to a grandchild?  I took her to the library for pre-walker story time.  That was fine, although she looked a little shy.  I listened to the new parents talk about their kids. The big issue is food--when and what to feed the baby.  It strikes me as a measure of how deeply the baby food ( Read more... )

My intention over "break" was to write two posts--one on my grandmother and one on the conference in DC.  But last night, at the belated Hanukkah/secular New Year's Day family party, Deborah, another family member who works in tech, and I had a discussion about the changing nature of the use of online technology and addiction.  It was part of an ( Read more... )

The last of the kitchen fiddling happened around November 22.  So--no kitchen for a full four months.  Not a lot of fun.  But the result is absolutely beautiful and completely functional.  Here's the last of the pictures:

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( Birgenau's letter defending the indefensible )

Yes, it is getting close--only two months after the imaginary finish date.  But it is really beautiful.  The tile floor is in, but for the grouting which will take place today and tomorrow.  Then it's just electrical, a bit of the window, and painting.  So we're close...


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Nothing life-changing happened, but it was a day full of good things:
1.  Dan and Miranda gave me a ride up to Berkeley in their new Prius.  I got to sit in the back with Lily while Miranda drove and Dan tried to figure out the bells and whistles.  Lily played the foot game--meaning she shoves her foot at me and I play piggy-toes or chew the toes or ( Read more... )