7/28/09

Forwarded Facebook Comments

Forwarded Facebook Comments

I have my facebook account forward my friends' comments to my gmail email account, so I can read them at work.  However, people tend to leave out the context, so the comments come in as indecipherable.  For example:

"Awwwwwwwwww.......how sweet."
"very, very depressing and disheartening"
"What a nice idea."
"i love sleep and even THAT scares me lol"
"If you had done your research, you would have known that that would happen."

I don't have a clue what these comments were commenting about. Do you have that same problem? 


 

7/22/09

"Iron Yarmulka" (kipat barzel)

Here is some good news.  Even if you dont understand Hebrew, you will understand the implications.
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euR7CwhOQ5k
 
 Yossi

7/15/09

Israel Health Insurance

I really liked my health care plan that I belonged to in <i>Israel</i>  And no, my employer did not subsidize, and no, the government did not subsidi9ze.  Who did?  The political parties in Israel all have their own Medical Plans.  I belonged to Macabee - run by the...uhhh... I forgot who ran my plan.  Labor?  Likud?  Agudat Yisrael?  Mapam?  Mapie? Who cares?  Thing is, the political parties ran it right.  I was very happy with my health plan in Israel.

7/13/09

Susan Reimer versus Sara Palin

 

 Susan Reimer:
"...The guys were flabbergasted. The women were furious..."
O.K., time to power-up the BS detector device. 
Zssssap.  Powered up.  Ding ding ding - BS detected.  BS detected. 
Dowd, Collins, Parker, Tucker, you are all full of it.  All these comments are like off the chart, and the only comment I have to say is "what planet are you from?"  Because your comments have little connection with the real world as we know it.  You are like the wife who asks "does this dress make me look fat?"  There are many answers to that, all wrong.  The comments all sound like "when did you stop beating your wife?"  Which also has no correct answer.  And is unfair, to say the least.
"...Women are mad because..."
What?  Women are "mad"?  There are fifty governors, 100 Senators, and every-one-of-them considers themselves a potential US president.  Believe me, all of them have egos the size of a planet.  So, women are mad because one governor resigns, as a possible strategy for running for president?  So what?  Unless the "mad" women are worried that Sarah's dress makes them look fat. 
First of all, if you want to get "mad", then get mad at Iran's nukes.  Get mad at piracy.  Get mad at the three reports of shootings in Baltimore today, showing up on my Twitter subscription to the Baltimore Police. Lots of things to get mad at.  Don't get mad at a politician's (surprise) ambition for higher office. 
"...The guys were flabbergasted..."  BS detected.  After all, "flabbergasted" is quite a word, and if you were sending it in Morse Code, it would cost you.  I am male, and I wasn't even surprised.  I am wondering if that decision is a wise move for Ms Palin, but then again, wisdom was never her strong suit. 
So, Susan, your column sounds so far out, so un-real, that I am wondering if you should stick to plants.  At least plants don't care if the dress makes them look fat.  And, yes, your picture does make you look fat. 

 

7/6/09

Shidduch Crisis

Shidduch Crisis


http://matzav.com/first-date-20-groundbreaking-shidduchvision-project-aims-to-ease-shidduch-crisis/


Excellent article, and a beautiful, concise description of the possible issues:
1. Orthodox dating is at fault, with its near-hermetic separation between the sexes.
2. no (halachally acceptable) venues for young religious people to meet
3. singles have become too picky
4. men approach dating with a laundry list of requirements
5. parents coddle their children too much, which inhibits the normal social development
6. it's a function of mathematics: boys start dating at a slightly older age than girls
Issues 1 and 2 are related, frum singles don't go to dances and mixers. Issues 3 and 4 are related, and might be the result of issue 5. Issue 6 is a non-starter. Unless you are bad at math, you immediately understand that boys have always looked for girls who are two to five years younger, and it makes no difference in the results.
If I could waive the magic wand and take down expectations a notch, it would have an immediate effect. Too many singles are looking for someone in the top ten percent. And if Rabbi Moshe Pogrow would go back to math class, he would realize that this is the real mathematical reason for the problem.
Instead of looking for someone in the top ten percent, if singles would be happy with someone in the top 80 percent, then the "crisis" would disappear. Of course, this would require that singles meet and socialize and grow romantic connections BEFORE background checks and laundry lists are applied.
It all goes hand in hand.
That is why the video dating idea is not the answer. It will just make it easier to apply the top ten percent expectations, laundry list requirements and background checks. My intuition says that the video dating will have a marginal benefit.




http://matzav.com/first-date-20-groundbreaking-shidduchvision-project-aims-to-ease-shidduch-crisis/