Divinity is in the Details

Bread

2011-03-02T15:00:00.004-05:00

The past year or two, I have gotten really in to baking bread. Freshness makes a big difference and so homemade is much much better. Additionally it doesn't have all the stabilizers and preservatives they use to keep commercial bread shelf stable for longer. At a more abstract level though, there is something very powerful about putting a few ingredients together, exposing it to heat and then ending up with something wildly different. The surprising process of wheat turning into bread was critical to the rise of cities based on agriculture (in much of the world). In addition to deliciousness I am moved by being part of the simple discovery that at the same time was an original building block of many civilizations.

I find that it is the easiest to make this recipe using a digital scale. They can be had for pretty cheap although here is a good one for $30. It's not necessary though--I list volume measure later.

Here are some weights (it's easiest if you use a digital baking scale, they can be had for $10-15):

Flour 860g (we prefer bread flour to all purpose. you could also make it partially whole wheat or other types of flour. Since I make a lot of bread I buy King Arthur Special by the 50 pound sack.)

Water 690g

Salt 16-18g (I prefer {misnamed} Kosher Salt)

Yeast 2g

1. Mix flour, yeast, and salt.

2. Add water

3. Mix

4. Let stand in a warm, but not hot, place at least 12 hours and up to 24 hours (18 is optimal)

after the 12 to 24 hours have passed

5. Stir dough a couple times so it begins another rise.

5. Preheat oven to 475 with a soup pot with a lid (make sure it is ovensafe)

6. When oven reaches 475, take pot out and dump in the dough

7. Optional--dust top with a bit of flour (this just makes it look nice)

8. Put in over for 35 minutes with lid on

9. After 35 min, remove lid and bake for additional 10 to 20 min, until chestnut brown (some prefer golden but then you'll get less caramelization of the crust)

Ta Da!

It is a really forgiving recipe so if you mess up, don't worry. It will be delicious no matter what.

If you'd like to make an olive bread, follow the same recipe to make the dough. While you are pre-heating the oven, dice some olives. Obviously this will be easier if you buy pitted olives. Stir olive bits into the dough before dropping the dough in the pot. Try to have as little olive brine as possible get into the dough. Don't put the olives in at the beginning since they harm the rising of the dough.

Any pot with a tight-fitting lid should work so long as it is oven safe to 475. Here is a good candidate. Note, that if you buy that one, you'll have to swap out the top handle since it isn't oven safe to a high enough temperature. It's pretty easy though, just unscrew the screw and add a replacement.

Here are volume measures:

6 cups of flour

1/2 teaspoon of yeast

somewhere between 3 and 4 teaspoons of salt

3 and 1/4 cups of water

Thank to AZW for his mentorship in this arena. Thanks to Mark Bittman (popularize-r) and Jim Lahey (originator) for the original recipe.

Wedding Manifesto v1.2

2010-12-14T10:37:00.005-05:00

Wedding Manifesto

As we planned our wedding we came under pressure to spend obscene amounts of money on a variety of silly things--I suspect this is the American way. The pressure was real, came from many places, and thankfully was almost entirely resisted. If it can happen to us--it can happen to you! I’ll outline some of the things we did and why, including resources. My approach to weddings is that it’s critical to save your budget for things that will make your wedding match your goals. Since the budget is limited, spending on things you care about will necessitate ruthlessly cutting things you don’t. I’ll talk more about this throughout. My experience with wedding is a bit limited (though I’ve been to 30 or so I’ve only planned one).

What’s the Point?

When you organize a political event, start a new project, or decide how to manage an initiative, you probably start by thinking about what you want to accomplish. What are your goals? A wedding, for all its differences is still an event and you should start by clarifying your goals. Would you like friends from different parts of your lives to get to know each-other? Your families to acquaint? The friends and family assembled to understand more the nature of your commitment to each other? Give people a sense of how your life works?

What do you view as important? Classiness? Environmental simplicity? Your ethnic heritage? Labor rights? Silliness? Fashion?

Think about your goals before you think about the details. Most do it the other way around and that often leads to spending lots of money on things that don’t meet your goals. If you have it in your budget, spend lavishly on things which facilitate your goals and be relentlessly thrifty on things which don’t. At the end of the day you will be married. You need to figure out what else you want to happen.

The Wedding Industrial Complex (WIC)

There is an entire industry devoted to profiting from your joy. Profiting from your joy isn’t necessarily bad--you are joyful and businesses exist to profit so sometimes it can work out. The big problem occurs when they manipulate you to increase their profits. The easiest way to avoid such manipulation is to avoid conventional wedding professionals. Some are terrific but many aren’t. Typically they have spent years learning their trade and are better at getting you to spend a lot than you are at resisting their charms. They have a lot more practice (several hundred weddings) than you do (this is probably your first, possibly second, certainly not 253rd).

From the photographer who wants you to spend an extra $1000 for some fancy doodad that will “help you remember this day forever” to the wedding dress boutique salesperson who is paid on commission and says “don’t you think you look a bit sexier in the other dress” rather than “is the other dress really worth $2000 more, they are quite similar”, you should know that they are very clever and have had lots of practice. The WIC uses gender assumptions against you, they use self-consciousness to profit, and build up expectations to unreasonable levels. Don’t do business with people who make you nervous, seem manipulative (even if it’s just a bit), or are not on board with your ideas.

Books

As my partner says:

“Don't read too many wedding books or websites. they're bad for your health, seriously, they warp your wedding planning from being about what you and your partner want to being about what they want you to want. It's a mess.”

Most wedding books are part of the broader wedding industrial complex. Books which build up the idea that you are trying to achieve your perfect day should be discarded. Books that make your feel stressed or inadequate are bad for the soul. Books that don’t focus on how your wedding can reflect who you can slowly move you towards someone else’s vision.

Two books we liked (I'd like to add some non-Jewishly-specific books, please recommend):

The New Jewish Wedding
The Creative Jewish Wedding Book: A Hands-on Guide to New & Old Traditions, Ceremonies & Celebrations

Our friend WB writes:

The best non-Jewish wedding book I know is Miss Manners On Weddings. Despite what some people might assume about Miss Manners, the book is subversively anti-WIC, It's very good about discouraging versions of the "everybody tells us our wedding has to have outrageously-expensive thing XX" line of thinking.

Invitations

If you are snail mail oriented you might send out save-the-date cards and invitations. To us, that seemed a little bit silly since most people in our generation do better with e-mail. Turns out doing it with PaperlessPost costs about $0.05 per invitation. Much cheaper than the $0.44 stamp and the printing/envelope that can be a couple bucks. Send out 150, do both save-the-dates and invitations and you can be looking at about $500. For us it wasn’t worth it.

Paperless Post

WB again:

We used paper for two main reasons. 1, we really enjoy stationery and paper goods, so our invitations were a chance for us to share our love of paper goods with our guests. 2, we had a number of guests from a significantly older generation, and we worried that they would find paperless invitations and save the dates confusing, disorienting, and alienating; in order to make them feel more welcome, we used traditional paper for everybody.

It sound as though they really enjoyed the aesthetics of the invitation. Given the amount of enjoyment they got from this, it sounds like they made a great decision. We sent paper invitations to older folks who we thought wouldn't understand our normal approach. In our case, that ended up being about a dozen people.

Registries

For us, it was hard to balance focusing on getting married with a lot of people being excited to note the occasion with gifts. On the one hand, it seemed like it’d be cool if everyone just gave to a charity and came to celebrate but on the other hand it was great to get lots of stuff that makes it easier to cook, serve, and host, since those are all things we like to do. Lastly, it was hard to balance being happy to receive things which will enrich our life with not wanting to be nor appear to be materialistic. Lastly, we have heard a lot of feedback that we should have a wedding registry. One guest said, “look I am getting you a present, you can either tell me what you want/what kind of thing you want, or I can decide. Put up a registry since I am going through a crystal vase phase.”

Typically people go to one or more retail establishments and go around with a scan gun, laser-beeping things on to their registry. For their part, the stores usually encourage people to register for many presents than guests. This has the effect of people sometimes feeling sad when they didn’t receive something that a few weeks earlier they had never heard of, let alone need. It’s a very good way to get couples to demand more stuff than they intended. It’s so much fun to go around and scan things--a sort of twist on on the 1980s hit supermarket sweep. I think zapping is fun, if you do as well, go to a laser-tag place (do they still have those?).

We initially tried to avoid having a registry all together but after much feedback from family and older friends we built one. Our goals were:

to be very clear that we don’t expect gifts and that the main thing is that folks should come celebrate with us
to have items in many price ranges
to avoid an array of choices which would overwhelm folks (see Schwartz)
to help people understand why we were excited about the things on the list
to help people coordinate so that we wouldn’t get multiple identical gifts

We ended up using alternative gift registry and borrowing artful language from our friends JN and EM. In addition to gifts, we listed some organizations that we would be honored to have folks support with us in mind. On the gifts front, we vaguely prioritized our list and tried to have roughly two items under $50, two between $50 and $100 and two over $100 most of the time. When someone bought something (more specifically, indicated that they would), we deleted that item and added the next one on our list. This was a bit confusing for some guests but was generally well received. AGR gives a place for text where we described a bit about why we put an item on the list. If we had something specific in mind we posted a link (victorinox makes reasonably priced chef’s knives that outperform ones 4 times the price). When we didn’t know much about the subject we said so: “Composter--We’d like one that turns food scraps into dirt.” For the most part this system worked for us.

Alternative Gift Registry
Our text (thanks JN/EM!)

Families

If they are helping you fund the wedding, it is important to have a sense from your parents about how they think the money will work. Some of my friends have split it evenly 3 ways (couple, one side’s parents, the other side’s), others have picked it up entirely themselves. In some cases the bride’s parents have picked the whole thing up (traditional American approach), and in some cases the parent’s split it down the middle. It’s helpful to have a clear idea from the outset so you can start to have a vague idea of the budget. They can pay for things directly or fund an account that you write checks from (the way we did it).

Exercise: Set up a meeting where all parents and partners can be present. Say something roughly like: “we will take two minutes so we can all visualize a specific moment in the wedding that we are excited about. We’ll then go around and share our moment, what it sounds like, looks like and feels like. Remember this is a snapshot not a discussion of broader themes.” In our case, one parent talked about the ceremony, another the band, and a third the food. We had worried that they’d have strongly differing views but actually, this helped us see that they were focused on different pieces and prioritized differently. It was a huge relief.

Getting to Know You/Rehearsal Dinners

It is important to help people get to know you better as individuals and as a couple. Many friends of your parents, family members, etc won't know you as adults nor your partner at all. Part of the task of a wedding experience (especially any pre/post events) is to help people learn about who you guys are. For instance, rather than a rehearsal dinner, we did an open mic where we served dessert, wine and beer while people played music, toasted us, roasted us, and through the process introduced us to the people who didn't know us well from the other side. It was a lot of fun, and fulfilled a goal (help people get to know each other, and us) rather than us trying to fit our goals into the normal way of doing things (an expensive rehearsal dinner).

The Wedding

With regard to the actual wedding itself, we tried to focus on what things would tangibly help people enjoy the experience and build community. Cut flowers are expensive, bad for the environment, and usually are produced under bad labor conditions. Since we don't think they mattered, we just didn't have any (if cut flowers are important to you, cut somewhere else, and go all out on flowers).

Bridesmaids/Groomsmen

We elected not to have them and it turned out well for us. Our friend Will remarked that he and his wife didn’t need any more divisions and public prioritizations among their friends. We primarily thought that causing people to buy dresses they wouldn't want to wear again was silly. Still, it is important to many people to have wedding parties, if you do this, think back to when you have been on the other end, what would have made your experience better? What did you resent?

Who is the Wedding About?

It’s entirely about you and your partner! Nope! Lots of folks will say that the wedding is all about you--normally to sell you something designed to enhance your appearance. Really, the wedding is about your relationship with your partner and your collective relationship with family and friends. If it was all about you, you’d be better off taking the money and going on a very long cruise or something similarly lavish.

This day, is very important for most people at the wedding. Brides and grooms must resist the pressure to focus exclusively on themselves. Weddings can be hard for single friends or coupled friends who aren’t ready to marry. Weddings can be challenging for people whose relationships are not recognized as readily in society, especially if your relationship is. Be aware of how others may be thinking and feeling--it will mean a lot to them, and ultimately to you.

Food

Since most catering isn’t amazing, it seemed silly to spend $100 per person when we could do fine for $20. Our experience is that catered food is rarely delicious for the price. We focused on a cuisine with a tradition of delicious buffet dining and figured that it would be good rather than amazing. Since we didn’t feel strongly that there ought to be meat or fish, we served vegetarian Indian food (and some bland food for those who didn't like Indian). This cost about 1/3 to a 1/6 of what normal catering would have cost--this freed up budget for other things. The vegetarian-ness also made the food lighter which led to more dancing. I suggest you speak with restaurants you like a lot and see if they’d cater and for what price. Not only will it be more delicious and cheaper than most other options, it’ll also give people insight into your life. For some folks, food is the signature piece of the wedding. If this is you, it’s reasonable to spend like it. If it isn’t, you don’t need to break the bank.

Delegating

We had an amazing experience with delegating. Everyone we asked to do anything at our wedding exceeded expectation and did a breathe-taking job. From the Carinne and Seth who who MCed the open mic and organized a band of mostly ex-housemates to Beth who put together a team to make all the desserts to Jon who wrote a 4-part arrangement and trained a group to sing it while we processed to Kavitha who ran point all day--literally everyone nailed it. We considered which skills each of our friends had (cooking, likes to be charming/funny in front of large groups, creating intense emotional space, juggling, singing, connecting people etc) and thought of things to ask of them. This helped our wedding feel like our wedding and our parents/parent’s friends/relatives got to see why we love our friends so much. Highly recommend!

Takeaway

At the end of the day you’ll be married. The rest is just details.

In a future edition:

How do you get reluctant stakeholders (parents) on board with this plan?

Movement, Denominations, and Minyanim…oh my!

2009-12-03T11:19:00.000-05:00

A little while back, in addressing recent discussions of minyanim and reacting to Rabbi Elie Kaunfer, BZ posted:

Rabbi Kaunfer writes “New self-proclaimed movements sprung up — Reconstructionism, and the Renewal and Chavurah Movements.” The “Chavurah movement” is not now and has never been a “self-proclaimed movement” parallel to the “big three” or the Reconstructionist movement. Rabbi Kaunfer himself has argued for why the latest wave of independent minyanim do not constitute a “movement” in that mold, and the same is true for earlier waves of havurot.

This has led me to think about the similarities and differences between what people tend to refer to as Chavura, Conservative, Independent Minyan, Orthodox, Reconstructionist, Reform, and Renewal. (note that I alphabetized them rather than forcing them into a spectrum that doesn't quite fit). Of course these labels have substantial overlap. Some are parallel. Some are not. They all come about because people want quick categories that they can use to label the Jewish approach of themselves and others.

--This next paragraph can be skipped, it defines a few terms and frames the issue, but some might find it needlessly semantic--Some of these labels are (what I'll call) institutional, ideological, and/or aesthetic. Insitutional groupings are based on a subset of Jews being unified based on connection to an institution(s). For instance, The Conservative movement is an institutional grouping since it's people are connected through camps, schools, youth groups, an other institutions. It is also an ideological grouping since it has positions on many questions that it endorses. Conservative Jews have tendencies to think about Israel in certain ways, egalitarianism, etc. Of course, some differ and there is some diversity, but certainly, you can see what I mean by ideological grouping. By aesthetic, I mean a preference for decision-making model, prayer approach, or something else which is not explicitly Ideological. In many cases these issues are deeply moral, so I don't mean to imply that this is in any sense superficial. Minyanim, for instance are united by a desire for lay-ledness and thus "Minyan" is an aesthetic grouping. This is a rather arbitrary nuance but there certainly is a nuance between how people think about the world (ideology) and how they prefer their prayer specifically (prayer aesthetic) that while influenced by the former is a slightly different issue.

Now I'll take a look at a few common groupings and examine what they are, where they come from, and which they are parallel too, and not.

Chavura

This term is especially confusing since it refers to two substantially disparate kinds of communities. Some use it to refer to lay-led communities which don't employ professionals. For instance, this label is often is often associated with the groups that sought a more organic, spiritual, and culturally relevant Judaism in the 60s and 70s such as Havurat Shalom in Boston (which began as a seminary of sorts), the New York Havurah, and Farbrengen in DC. All these groups had major learning and political components in addition to davening and social retreats. The critical writing in this do-it-yourself movement was the Jewish Catalog (and its 2 sequels). Many of these early havurot where like communes. The collective living aspects soon diminished but many still had consensus-based decision-making, specific membership, and intense community.

At the same time that these pioneers of lay-led intimate communities were striking out to build new kinds of independent models the term was also being used to refer to synagogue-based sub-groups. Harold Schulweis helped create this model.

The 20th century use of chavurah originateds with fellowship who met to study the writings of Moredecai Kaplan. More of the relationship between Reconstructionism and havurot later...

This is largely an aesthetic group. There is wide variation on every ideological issue. Havurot tend to be egalitarian but aren't necessarily. Really it's two different aesthetic groups (the in-shul and is-a-shul). Both though seek intimacy and intensity in Jewish life and have members who are willing to put in more time and energy to achieve those goals than many big congregation Jews are willing to.

Conservative

People often use "movement" and "denomination" interchangeably. In the case of the Conservative movement/denomination, this is reasonable. The Conservative denomination has institutional and ideological ties. It has a process for making movement-wide practice decisions (The Committee on Jewish Laws and Standards), its own seminaries (JTS, UJ, Schecter/Cons. Yeshiva), an organization of synagogues (United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism), and a pseudo-union for it's clergy (The Rabbinical Association).

Interestingly, the Conservative denomination has given rise to many of these other innovative groups (mostly unwillingly). Many of the early havurah-niks were former ramah campers/staff and Art Green, one of the main early leaders graduated from JTS. Mordecai Kaplan, founding thinker of the Recons, was a faculty member at JTS until his retirement. He influenced generations of Conservative rabbis and did not intend to start another denomination. Many of the current leaders of new minyanim have connections with the Conservative movement--specifically @ Hadar (of course, many minyanim have no connections to the Conservatives).

Independent Minyan

It seems that "Independent Minyanim" is the chic term for lay-led communities not based in synagogues. These groups have much in common with the kind of havurot discussed earlier. In the 60s, 70s, and 80s most of the leaders in the network of lay-led communities used "minyan" to mean prayer groups and "havurah" to mean a member-based group which was social, political, religious, cultural, and often residential or semi-residential. More on the nuances between havurot and minyanim here and here. It is a sad when words which formerly conveyed nuance cease to, since their usage blends. In contemporary terms the nuance between "havurah" and "minyan" is less well-known and that's a shame.

Back to the main point. Independent minyanim are categorized by their lay-ledness. This category contains havurot and minyanim (with the possible exception of those based in synagogues). It is an aesthetic category. There are a few institutions, the National Havurah Committee and Mechon Hadar for example, which help independent community members connect with folks from other communities both socially, for learning, and for mentoring each other on the mechanics of running minyanim.

I put "independent" in scare quotes since I think it is a silly term that doesn't do a good job describing what makes these communities different. More on why here.

Orthodox

Though Orthodoxy is frequently thought of as one of the "big three" along with the Conservative and Reform movements it isn't really analogous. The Orthodox world has many denominations. It is an umbrella containing a variety of ideologies with aligned institutions. For instance, Lubovitch, has its own seminaries, schools, places of worship, etc, and is parallel to C and R. Modern orthodoxy has some institutions (YU, Maimonides etc) and is somewhat parallel. This is a world linked by ideology (though the spread between Soloveichik, Salanter, and Schneerson is enormous). Many orthodox communities, as it happens, don't have paid clergy lead prayers and are, in this regard, lay-led making some orthodox prayer groups minyanim or even (ack!) havurot.

Reconstructionist

Reconstructionism is somewhat like Cons. and Ref. It has a seminary, Rabbinical Association, synagogue coordinating organization, youth group, and camp. It is somewhat different in that it has a commitment to local community process to create policy and construct ideology. it has a similarly wide spread to the havurot. Though it has just a smidge over 100 congregations some use a (the?) hechsher system for koshrut, others use an eco-koshrut approach, yet others are vegetarian as a means of making food match their values. Some have clergy-oriented services and others are chavurot or minyanim.

Reconstructionism differs from Reform and Conservative in that it was started primarily in a US context. As a result it prioritizes democracy at the national and local level to a very large degree. This may be part of why communal process is prioritized in the movements ideology. Recons have major aesthetic diversity but tend to be somewhat similar ideologically though the movement doesn't have positions quite the way the Conservative movement does.

Lastly, it's useful to not that in the early years of Reconstructionism (RRC and Havurat Shalom were both founded in 1968), there was a lot of cross-pollination. Many early Recon rabbis were Conservative-trained and had been part of the community-learning model in the Kaplanian Havurot. The NHC was originally located at the Federation of Reconstructionist Congregations and Havurot (FRCH was the USCJ equivalent). The director of FRCH was a member of a minyan. In the years since, the Recons became more focused on growth in suburban synagogues though there are major exceptions.

Reform

Like the Conservative grouping, Reform is an ideological, aesthetic, and organization grouping. There is diversity on all points.

Renewal

Renewal is an interesting case. It is somewhat similar to the Con., Rec., Ref. set since it has institutional, ideological, and aesthetic connections but is much smaller and has a different model for Rabbinic training. I understand that it is decentralized. In some sense, Renewal is more like an "independent" synagogue. It tends to have employed clergy but limited institutional frameworks. Of course the main nuance between havurah and Renewal is that the former is lay-led and the latter tends to be focused around charismatic leaders (rebbes).

It is useful to have labels that give us shortcuts in understanding the practices, preferences, and beliefs of others. These heuristics can help a lot but haven't kept pace with the times. We now have many which overlap. What kind of Jew are you? Well I prefer the structure of a havurah, the basic ideology of Reconstructionism, and pluralistic institutions. If you happen to go to a Conservative synagogue, send your kids to USY and Ramah, and like the prayer book/Rabbi's sermons you have a much easier answer than I do. As the years have gone by, and America has changed, people increasingly want embrace complicated identities. I talk a lot more, here, about how institutional decoupling will happen over time. Increasingly people will want to separate the organizations for Israeli politics, American politics, worship, camp, etc since our placement of one slides (israel, etc) doesn't strongly correlate with others, hence the interest in having several sliders rather than just one (Reform, Ortho, etc). More and more people will want to separate their Institutional, Ideological, and Aesthetic affiliations. This is why the old denominations are changing and most young people are looking for different solutions. The labels are changing because Jewish life is changing. We'll need to develop better organizations and better labels to keep up.

[Crossposted at Jewschool]

Shtick

2009-08-17T15:59:00.010-04:00

[I hope there will be a lot of collaboration on this one, so i will set out the framework and edit it a lot, so please make suggestions and additions in comments and I'll add them to the main text.]

One of the most festive parts of the (Ashkenazic?) Jewish wedding tradition is the shtick. According to Wikepedia:

"Shtick" is derived from the Yiddish word שטיק, meaning "piece"; the closely-related German word Stück has the same meaning.

In a wedding context however, it refers to a specific part of the dancing. Generally there is circle dancing. At some point brides and grooms (and sometimes their families) are lifted in chairs. Once the couple* is returned to ground level it is time to fulfill a special wedding-specific miztvah: mesameach chatan v' kallah (gladdening the groom and bride).

The general setup is:

bride and groom is sitting on chairs
open space in front of them
music playing
people standing around the open space.

Now, many things will happen, all designed to entertain the couple. I'll look at a few categories of entertainment and then at a few common tricks. I am sure that many of you will have all sorts of ideas as to how to do these various tricks better and will have suggestions of others I forgot. My intention is to create a framework so that we can all collaborate to make a good repository of ideas so that folks unfamiliar with this part of a wedding can think about how they'd like to participate ahead of time. My personal experience, is that this offers an opportunity for different kinds of skills to emerge and people who aren't used to having some of their talents recognized in a Jewish context get that chance here.

Skits
Oftentimes guests who know the bride and/or groom well will have prepared various sorts of brief skits. These should be short because quick turnover is important to the flow, and these can drag out if brevity isn't a focus. As my new neighbor, BZ, reminded me--since the music is often loud, skits should be purely visual so the bride, groom, and assembled masses can all enjoy it without hyper-focus. Examples?

Signs, Decorations, etc
It commonly happens that people will use inside jokes, groom/bride related humor, etc to concoct funny posters and other objects that relate to the specific couple. Who has examples?

Cuteness
Often, kids get involved and do very cute things. I saw a 7-year old bring a violin once, hush the band and play a piece he had recently learned. It was delicious.

Dancing/Acrobatics
Personally, this is my favorite category. Tons of approaches are in-bounds. Magic tricks, feats of strength and balance, fancy dancing, and anything else worthy of the spotlight. Here are a few examples:

Bottle Dancing--This is a feat of balance that ranges from simple to extremely hard. You move around with a bottle on your head. If you are beginning you might just walk around, which may very well impress. The guy pictured below can come very close to lying down and standing back up without ever touching the bottle. Word to the wise: this trick is easiest when the bottle is about half full. Difficulty: Ranges. Wow Factor: Very High. Injury Risk: Low.

(Photos Courtesy of The Wandering Jew)
Super Spin (no idea the actual name): This one is about balance and focus. It happens with two people. They hold both their partner's hands, lean back and spin as fast as possible. Without good execution this can lead to all sorts of problems. A few thoughts on how to do it well. You need a lot of space--if you don't have enough you may end up in a high speed collision. Make sure your hands are fairly dry. If you lose your grip, both people will go flying. There is some tendency to move together away from your starting point, slow down when you feel this motion since you will be somewhat disoriented and have a difficult time judging how far you can move. Generally, it's optimal to have people of roughly the same size and weight if you plan to go very fast. Additional variation: if one person is much lighter then the other, the light-one can jump and become fully horizontal. Difficulty: Low-Moderate. Wow Factor: Moderate. Injury Risk: High, if inexperienced. The name I attached to this is stupid. Does anyone have a better suggestion?

Flying Hora--This is another trick that is easy to dabble in and hard to execute well. It happens with an even number of people and is a close relative of the super-spin which is discussed above. The taller (and usually bulkier) folks spin the leaner folks so they are nearly horrizontal. This is accomplished by the taller folks holding each others hands and the lighter folks holding hands behind the taller folks shoulders. If you want to try this out, look at the specifics of the grips and locations in the picture below carefully. Difficulty: Moderate. Wow Factor: High. Injury Risk: Low, if experienced.

Juggling--pretty obvious. Difficulty: Ranges. Wow Factor: Medium (unless stuff is burning, then high. If plastic is burning, very high, bro.) Injury Risk: negligible.

Kazatsky (sp): This is one of a variety of difficult dances which originated in the Russian folks dance tradition. It features kicks from a squated position. This one takes practice, balance, strong ankles, backs, and legs. It also has a wide range of variations with different difficulties. The name, probably emerged from Kazak, the word for Cossack in many Eastern European and Central Asian languages. Here is a video that features the most common variation of that dance at the 0:38 mark. Difficulty: Ranges widely. Wow Factor: Moderately high. Injury Risk: Moderate (especially with a history of back or groin problems).

Balancing Stuff: People sometimes do complicated balancing routines besides the bottle/head maneuver. Just this past weekend I saw a guy balance a folding chair on his chin.Difficulty: High. Wow Factor: High. Injury Risk: Modest (mostly to people besides the balancer).

Fire Tricks: This is a very broad category of tricks which includes everything from juggling to fire swallowing. My personal favorite involves lighting hats on fire. Fedoras work well for this. It must be done with a liquid that will burn at a lower heat than the one at which the hat's material will burn (or melt). The theory goes, that the fluid (isopropyl alcohol, for instance) will burn but the hat will not, giving the appearance of the hat being on fire but not being consumed. Make sure there isn't alcohol on the under side of the top of the hat. You MUST NOT use a fluid with a fire point close to that of the hat nor can you let the hat burn for more than a few minutes. Lastly, beware of hats made of synthetic materials as they can melt. If you get good you can also toss the hat. As with any fire trick, beware of this problem and make sure you have water or an extinguisher handy. Difficulty: Modest. Wow Factor: Very High. Injury Risk: Ranges widely with practice level.

Human Pyramid: You are no doubt familiar with this standby. Obviously, bigger people on the bottom, lighter folks on the top. Difficulty: Depends on size. Wow Factor: Depends on size. Injury Risk: Modest.

Break Dancing: This is another big category. Be it b-boying, popping/locking, capoeira-influenced it will be a hit. Difficulty: High. Wow Factor: High. Injury Risk: modest.

Wheelbarrow: This is another piece of shtick that is very common. It is exactly as you remember from grade school. One person holds the other's legs and the other walks on his/her hands. Some just go straight to walking on their hands.

Bull Fight: This is another common maneuver often making an appearance during the shtick portion of the celebration. You typically see a person with a napkin waving it as a matador might. A second person snorts and charges as a bull might. Great fun is had by all.

What other things have folks done, seen, considered?

Here is a clip of what I assume is a professional shtick guy. He does some wild stuff.

*for simplicity's sake I will defer to a wedding with one groom and one bride, though several other combinations are obviously possible. Brides, Grooms, and a Bride+Groom function basically identically in this ritual, so assume when I say "Bride and Groom" assume I mean "a bride and a groom, brides, or grooms" .

The Battle

2009-05-21T15:58:00.002-04:00

I just had a birthday. In this era of social media I found myself warmly embraced. Thanks to all who called, e-mailed, facebooked, sung on conference calls etc.

Before I get into my main birthday-related point I should say that I am mostly posting elsewhere these days and apologize that this blog has largely fallen into disuse. I occasionally post at Jewschool.com. You can find my feed here. I also have gotten into Labornerd where I post occasionally under a super-secret pseudonym. So check me out in those places.

Now, back to my story. My parents came to town for my birthday. We had a few great meals and hunted for wedding venues for a bit. Then we ran a couple errands. When they departed I used a newly learned skill (thanks Aba!) to fix some scratches in the floor with polyurethane. This experience worried me greatly. By itself, fixing one's floor isn't worrisome. What is worrisome is the satisfaction and happiness it provided. I fear that I am now in the waning years of my fight against being grown up.

Souter and Specter

2009-05-01T10:17:00.004-04:00

A few quick thoughts on recent events:

Specter switched due to polling. (obvious)
I prefer him as a Dem than as Rep but I'd prefer a real Democrat. (nothing new here).
If Specter isn't the key vote on cloture for several major issues (un-rigging labor law, healthcare, judges) then he will get a serious primary opponent. Perhaps Allyson Schwartz.
He may get a decently top-tier challenge anyways from Joe Sestak.
Sestak is a telegenic former Navy Vice Admiral and would run well statewide, but I have an inkling that we could get someone a bit more progressive.
Whether Schwartz, Sestak or someone else, that person might sit a long time. The state is now solidly blue and trending bluer.
Lots of Dems are pissed that Specter is getting to carryover his seniortiy.
I suggest they give him .5 years of Dem Seniority for every year he has been in the Senate. That way, he won't get any major chairmanships ahead of Feingold, Boxer, Mikulski, etc and won't be a Senator long enough for the deal to screw young Senators. Arlen might accept the deal in order to get a prominent sub-committee chairmanship.
Here is the seniority list of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Hatch has occasionally been very reasonable. I wonder how he will perfrom as Ranking Minority Member.
We really, really don't want the guy who presided over the Alito and Roberts processes chairing Judiciary if Leahy swings to Approps.
How did the Souter news impact Specter's decesion?
Shouldn't we have extracted a deal where by he would have supported our candidates as a Republican and given a bipartisan veneer?
Specter must have known this was coming down the pike. It wasn't much of a secret. I, for intance, am very much out of the loop, especially on SCOTUS, and heard rumors starting before pesach.

25 Best Days

2009-03-10T12:18:00.002-04:00

People often worry about down markets and investing in them.
Once the market is down, it generally has some of it's best days of growth on the way up.

This makes a teaching from Ramit Sethi especially timely:

From 1970-2006 (the period studied) the average return of the S&P 500 was 11.1%. In that 36 year period, what would your return have been if you missed the best 25 days (less than 1 day per year)?

Was it 11.0%? 10.7%? 8.4%? 7.6%?

Think about it for a minute and then check the excerpt from his book below.

From Ramit's book: “Recently, a group called Dimensional Funds studied the performance of the S&P 500 from January 1970 to December 2006, during which time the annualized return of the market was 11.1%. They also noted something amazing: Of those 36 years from 1970 to 1986, if you missed the 25 days when the stock market performed the best, your return would have dropped from 11.1% to 7.6%, a crippling difference."

Better than a Nursing Home at half the cost

2009-03-10T11:41:00.002-04:00

I read this wonderful piece A faithful diner's last will and condiments in the LA Times. It's about a guy who spent decades of his life eating three meals a day at a small college in Southern California.

Over the years, the gray-haired man in the short-sleeved plaid shirt became a legend at the 2,200-student university, where -- over a plate of Swedish meatballs and a large bowl of soft-serve ice cream -- he would hold court in the crowded dining hall. Lindsay befriended students and dispensed Depression-era advice to anyone who would listen: Respect your parents, never drink or smoke, be frugal, save money.

It just seems like such a fun way to age, imparting wisdom, and spending time in a vibrant atmosphere. Acting as a source of institutional memory and serving as a student advocate. He loved the community so much that he donated his estate to the college. Read the story. It's totally sweet.

Getting a Deal

2009-02-27T14:06:00.002-05:00

It was our office intern's birthday today so several of us took her out for lunch. It took 40 minutes or so for our food to come and so I asked for the manager and said, "our food eventually came and we enjoyed it but it took 45 minutes. Can you please offer us a discount," and handed him the bill. A few minutes later he came to our table with a 20% reduced bill. They asked me to explain a bit how I worked it out. I think there are a few things to keep in mind when asking for a discount based on poor service, performance, etc:

1) Ask.

It is unlikely the manager knew we had waited that long and the bill didn't come with a discount. You aren't out much by asking so you mine-as-well. In this case, as with most, the manager was happy to offer a discount in the hopes that we would return and spread the word that they were accommodating rather than had poor service.

2) Make sure to talk with someone who has the authority to grant your request.

In the case I mentioned above, this meant realizing it wasn't the server's fault and she probably couldn't offer us a discount, so I found the manager.

3) Have them make the first offer.

The manager has a better sense of what is reasonable than I do so I punt to him. I didn't say "i'd like $10 off" just that I'd like a discount. It's very hard for him to say no to a discount of any sort and once he has mentally committed to it, he'll likely make a decent offer. You appear nice, and then have room to bargain further.

4) Be Nice.

This is implicit in 3. I made sure to point out that the food was good. It's embarassing for a manager who care's about his/her business to find out about an instance of poor service or performance. Everyone does better when negative (constructive) feedback is tempered with the positive.

The main takeaway here is that the key is asking. Do it nicely and make sure it's to the right person and you'll get plenty of discounts in the years to come.

Ganjmentum

2009-02-23T13:57:00.002-05:00

Nate Silver has a good piece up about the increasing popularity of marijuana legalization. Apparently the numbers have been on the rise for the last twenty years and now are roughly 42 in favor and 50 against. Here is his chart:

These polls are usually based on a simple permutation of "Do you favor or oppose the legalization of marijuana." I doubt most respondents have heard the best arguments in favor (or perhaps against). The result is that they answer based on whether they think marijuana is harmful or not particularly harmful rather than thinking through how a thing being legal or illegal impacts its incidence. If someone was framiliar with these three arguments (my favorites) I bet they'd be a lot more than 42% likely to support legalization of marijuana (or at least decriminalization):

Tough on Crime When we prohibited alcohol it led to the rapid expansion and increasing violence of gangs because they had a natural market. LEgalizing marijuana would hurt the multi-national gangs that sometimes sell it.
Makes it Safer The biggest health risk with marijuana is foreign additives like rat poison (rare but dangerous). If it was legal and FDA regulated, people could be much surer of the safety or non-safety of a specific package. Since usage would be unlikely to change much from legalization this would be a good way to make the public safer.
Save money, make money. Because it would be sold in more conventional ways, marijuana would be taxed and the US would generate billions of a dollars in revenues. Lord know we could use the money. I'd force a % of it into education. The US has more non-violent drug offenders locked up than there are people imprisoned for all crimes in all of Europe. It is very costly to lock people up. We'd save almost as much money from not locking up marijuana users as we would gain from the tax. The economic impacts taken together are very powerful.

I just don't see many good arguments on the other side. Perhaps the best is that it is thought that if marijuana was legalized it would become more convenient to purchase and thus be used more resulting in other problems.

Inauguration

2009-01-21T11:23:00.003-05:00

Wow, what a day!

Wake up 5:50 AM
We serve coffee and outmeal to the 7 people staying at our place. Thankfully the Fire Marshall didn't show (this will be a recurring theme of the day).

Leave house 6:35

Arrive Metro 6:40

Get on first train toward Branch Avenue 6:45

Arrive L'Enfant Plaza 7:00
This is when the problems start. People can move through the exit gates (if all 8 are set for exiting) faster than they can move up the stairs to street level. So, to keep from having people get knocked up the stairs, they only opened the exit gates every few minutes for about 30 seconds. This was smart and would have been even smarter if they communicated what was going on. All we could see (Pilar, Becca, and I) was that we were in a mass of thousands of people, pressed close enough that i didn't need to hold our newsaper, i could just leave it pinned between other people and my jacket. It was an awful feeling to have no idea what was going on and have no motion for 5 minutes at a time as the crowd grew larger and more unruly. Chants of "let us out" were much more commons than anything patriotic. (Again, thankfully the Fire Marshall was absent from the scene. I can't imagine they would have approved)

Exit L'Enfant Plaza 8:00
We next got ourselves to the Silver Ticket line. At that point it was about 4 blocks long. It was totally stangnant and then starter moving at a jogging pace. Again, no communication, but at least this time there was much progress.

Enter The Silver Section ~8:40
I eventually got patted down and let in to our section. We were right by the first jumbotron and about 500 feet from the main show on the Capitol steps. It was pretty slow at first but we had some good space, set down newspapers and set up camp. It was about 22 degrees or so and we were bundled up. Becca and Pilar felt it was time to pass the time in song. We kicked out This Land is Your Land and as we started some mid-late 20s folks from Foggy Bottom joined in as did an older Black lady from Texas and several other nearby people. The older lady had some other suggestions and seemed to know all the lyrics to every song suggested. It turns out she was an elementary school music teacher in Texas.

Innauguration Begins
The actual program was probably seen by just about everyone so I won't get too much into the specifics, just crowd reactions that might not have been clear on TV.
Biggest booing of the day: Lieberman (way more than Bush or Cheney). I found this surprising but am no fan of any of the three myself.
When Bush entered there were lots of boos. Many bursted out with sha-na-na-na sha-na-na-na hey hey hey goodbye. It was sweet and cathartic.
Obama seemed to trip up the swearing in but we later found out that Roberts had actually erred.

To get home we walked to Waterfront Metro and headed for home.

All told, it was a day for the ages. The logistics were terrible. Imagine leaving a baseball game but 50 times worse and 10 times as long. The program, though was worth it. To be part of such a moment was perhaps a once in a lifetime oppurtunity and one we happily accepted. I sincerely hope that this is a real inflection point in American politics. We shall see.

Eagles Review

2009-01-21T10:55:00.003-05:00

This past year was an incredible run that showed heart, shocking failure, and unexpected victory, all punctuated with piercing heartbreaking loss.

Looking forward, the Eagles have more draftpicks that any other football team (10), including 1.22, 1.28, 2.22, 3.22, 4.22, 5.5, 5.22, 6.22, 6.23, and 7.22. If you were to trade all their extra picks for a single pick, using the NFL chart, they'd be worth (660+39.5+19.2=718.7) roughly the 25th pick in the first round.

Now, to review there areas of need:

QB: McNabb had a terrible first half against the Cardinals and needs to improve his consistency but is the best chance we have to win next year. His backups are fine. We may see a late-round flyer since Andy likes to draft QBs in that way but nothing should come on the first day.

RB: Buck is probably heading out since he wants a bigger role (and should get one somewhere). 36 is getting old and his game has been becoming less scary. He needs to take fewer carries. It's time to draft a better version of Ryan Moats to learn from Westbrook and take over at the end of the 2010 season. Westrbook is a great blocker and this shouldn't be overlooked. Eckel seems fine as a third-RB. I'd assume we'd draft a back in the first three rounds. Here are some profiles.

WR: Baskett should no longer be thought of as a future starter. He dropped too many important balls in the playoffs. That said he is fine at number 4. Avant is perfect for number 3. Curtis and Jackson are good for #s 1 and 2. That leaves me wondering about Greg Lewis and Reggie Brown. I wonder if we can trade Brown and the Panther pick to get to a middle pick in the first round.

TE: We need a guy who attracts defenseive attention and can block LBs well and DE's decently well. Tough set of skills to combine, I know, but this is a probable use of a first round pick.

O-Line: I think Runyan and Thomas have lost some of their oomph. One or both should be let go based on film study. The running game was mediocre in the playoffs and used to be a strength. My gut is that Runyan goes, Herrmans slots in at RT and Cole/MJG slides in at LG. How has dunlap been progressing? Any signs of life from Justice?

D-Line: Looks very good. If we move Klecko back to rush on passing downs then Howard may get cut. Johnson would love Peppers but I think we may need to budget more money towards the offense. We only get Peppers if we can get some picks for Lito.

LBs: It's be great to get a Will-LB and have Jordan be the 4th guy and rotate.

CBs: If Jack Ikegwuono looks good, then lets trade Lito and resign Joselio. Can we get a 3d rounder? That'd be great.

FS: Is Demps good enough to take over? If not, this is a high priority for a using a first-round or second-round pick.

SS: Mikell is good. Condesine seems like a mediocre backup but it's too expensive to have great backups everywhere.

P: Rocca is golden. Needs practice punting in bad conditions.

K: Akers looked terrible at Arizona (in a dome no less) and will get some stiff competition. Unlikely but possible scenario: we use a late-round pick on a kicker.

Heroes are Usually Union Members

2009-01-16T11:57:00.002-05:00

Alan directed me to this great account of the USAir crash and heroic campaign that successfully saved everyone. I was at LaGuardia earlier in the day for work and the conditions were really lousy. Anyways, in times like these it is wonderful to appreciate people who go above and beyond, sublimating selfishness to a real sense of duty, like the pilot who went the whole length of the plane twice to ensure everyone was off before he left. The frigid waters were pouring in and he insisted on being the last one off.
Amidst all the hoopla and media coverage i didn't hear the word "union" once. It is therefor quite notable, as EmptyWheel points out that almost all the folks who saved the lives are union and the safety training they have gotten was bargained for by the union's for exactly this reason. In tough negotiations many members have forgone raises to keep safety training when the boss has forced us to decide. So thank god for that.
Here is Emptywheel's post:

They're calling it a miracle--the successful landing of a US Airways jet in the Hudson and subsequent rescue of all 155 passengers. They're detailing the heroism of all involved, starting with the pilot and including cabin crew, ferry crews, and first responders. What they're not telling you is that just about every single one of these heros is a union member.
There's the pilot:

What might have been a catastrophe in New York — one that evoked the feel if not the scale of the Sept. 11 attack — was averted by a pilot’s quick thinking and deft maneuvers,

[snip]

On board, the pilot, Chesley B. Sullenberger III, 57, unable to get back to La Guardia, had made a command decision to avoid densely populated areas and try for the Hudson,

[snip]

When all were out, the pilot walked up and down the aisle twice to make sure the plane was empty, officials said.

Sullenberger is a former national committee member and the former safety chairman for the Airline Pilots Association and now represented by US Airline Pilots Association. He--and his union--have fought to ensure pilots get the kind of safety training to pull off what he did yesterday.

Then there are the flight attendants:

One passenger, Elizabeth McHugh, 64, of Charlotte, seated on the aisle near the rear, said flight attendants shouted more instructions: feet flat on the floor, heads down, cover your heads.

They are members of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA. Yesterday's accident should remind all of us that flight attendants are first and foremost safety professionals--they should not be treated like cocktail waitresses.

There are the air traffic controllers:

The pilot radioed air traffic controllers on Long Island that his plane had sustained a “double bird strike.”

They're represented by the National Air Traffic Controllers Association. Someday, they'll rename National Airport for the work these men and women do to keep us safe in the air.

There are the ferry crews:

As the first ferry nudged up alongside, witnesses said, some passengers were able to leap onto the decks. Others were helped aboard by ferry crews.

They're represented by the Seafarers International Union. They provide safety training to their members so they're prepared for events like yesterday's accident.

There are the cops and firemen:

Helicopters brought wet-suited police divers, who dropped into the water to help with the rescues.

They're represented by the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association and the Uniformed Firefighters Association and Uniformed Fire Officers Association (IAFF locals).They're the men and women who performed so heroically on 9/11--and they've been fighting to make sure first responders get the equipment to do this kind of thing.

Bob Corker and Richard Shelby like to claim that union labor is a failed business model.

But I haven't heard much about Bob Corker and Richard Shelby saving 155 people's lives.

Pirkei Avot II (Sayings of our Ancestors)

2009-01-14T10:14:00.002-05:00

My mother often said "90% is showing up" when I worried about going to be supportive and not knowing what to say. "The main thing is to be there."

High-Class Problem

2009-01-13T17:17:00.004-05:00

I suppose, in every experience we have there is learning. One of the most interesting things I learned in my second job (an extension of my first job), from my boss, was thinking of certain kinds of problems as high-class problems. They are the types of problems created of success. For instance, when your press release hits it exactly right and so many reporters call for additional quotes that you can't get back to them all before their press deadlines, that is a high-class problem. It's a great phrase that has helped refined my thinking a bit. Thanks Bill!

Pirkei Avot I (Sayings of our Ancestors)

2009-01-13T17:09:00.003-05:00

My Grandpa Sam sometimes used to say: "Never trust anyone who says 'trust me.'"
"If they can't earn your trust through what they do, let that tell you something."

A Primer on DC Neighborhoods for Young Progressive Folks

2008-12-23T09:48:00.003-05:00

People thinking of moving to DC often ask me (and many others) for an overview of neighborhoods they could live in and so I figured I should put something up based on the e-mail I've been using.

There are several neighborhoods to consider living in, each with some perks and potential drawbacks.

I spent my first three years in DC living in Mount Pleasant which is a mix of residential and commercial. My street there was quiet but a few blocks away from the commercial strip which is peppered with central american papusarias and bodegas while having the requisite liquor store, convenience joints, grommet pizza place, and yuppie progressive bar. MtP is mostly populated by Latinos and young non-profit workers of various sorts. It's a great place and I highly recommend it. Rent for one bedrooms tend to run $900-1200 a month for most places. There are lots of English basement apartments around (small windows, mostly below ground). A room in a group house generally runs $700-$900 but can be cheaper if it is extremely small or the house is not well maintained.

I currently live in Columbia Heights which is a much bigger neighborhood than MtP. It is closer to a Metro station and is more block-to-block, meaning some are gorgeous, safe and cheap while other blocks are less safe or gorgeous and that there is substantial economic diversity, moreso than other neighborhoods. There are beautiful renovations, dilapidated houses, and assitted housing all on the same blocks sometimes. CH is east of Mount Pleasant. Lots of people are moving in here and it just got a big box development strip with Target, Best Buy, a slew of great restaurants, etc. Some parts are gentrified and others and the racial mix is mostly White and Black with few Latinos. Rent is cheaper than MtP but the scales overlap. This also comes highly recomended but care should be used and all houses should be looked at in person.

other choices include:

DuPont Cirlce is snazzier, and significantly more expensive than MtP/CH, and has a very large gay community (especially known for gay men with small dogs). DuPont is south of Mount Pleasant. Rooms are about 50% more expensive than MtP.
Adams Morgan is where the clubs are. its quite diverse and full of excitement. Its between Dupont and MtP. There are tons of coffeshops, restaurants (Ethiopian, West African, Pizza, Italian, gourmet California-style, etc). Costs are similar to Mount Pleasant, maybe 10-20% more.
Cleveland Park and Woodley Park are quieter and more suburban feeling but very solid places to live, if not as racially diverse. They are both within the city. I am not sure how prices run. They have a reputation for being safer than MtP and Columbia Heights but I am not sure how much of that has to do with aesthetic factors and how much has to do with actual statistics. I feel quite safe in CH and did in MtP and never had any incidents that gave me pause to reconsider in either place. These neighborhoods (along with Dupont) are on the Red Line of the Metro which makes them east for many commuters.
Capitol Hill is cool but i don't much about it because its kinda far away from Dupont/Columbia Heights/MtP/Adams Morgan which are all pretty close to each other. Like Columbia Heights there are great values to be found here but it is also very block-by-block.
U Street took off as a spot where Black intellectuals and musicians thrived during the Renaissance. It still features a half-dozen live Jazz joints, Ben's Chili Bowl, a bunch of Ethiopian places, and some great bars. It is just south of Columbia Heights and East of Adams Morgan. The prices are somewhat but not much higher than Columbia Heights. It is majorly gentrifying, perhaps at the fastest rate of any neighborhood in the city. It is very close to where most people work and extremely well-served by transit.
Takoma Park is suburban but has coops and stuff. Some progressive folks live here but is in a different social loop and I don't know much about it.

There are lots of good choices. I love MtP/CH for its reasonable prices, neat people, unpretentiousness, and mix of quiet and commercial.

I highly recommend getting involved with various activities upon becoming a DC person. It will create some welcomed diversity in your social life and keep you meeting new folks. For me, playing ultimate frisbee in the Washington Area Frisbee Club has been very useful.

The free culture, great restaurants, wonderful neighborhoods, and un-apathetic vibes make DC a sweet spot to sojourn for a while. I am sure since my experience is limited, many will have useful additional information and perspectives please comment to fill out the picture.

SubPrime Mortgages

2008-12-02T10:18:00.002-05:00

We have all been hearing about "sub-prime" mortgages so I thought I'd do a 90 second explanation. * Basically, the more likely you are to pay back a loan, the lower rate you pay for the money. Your likelihood to repay is calculated by three credit rating agencies using several factors to generate a credit score. You can read more here, but basically the agencies but a big emphasis on your payment history (are bills always paid ontime?) and how much you owe (are you using 30% or 90% of your available credit? 30% is much better). The remaining categories represent a combined third of your score: length of credit score (longer-->better), New Credit/Inquiries (it hurts when lots of people pull your credit score), and Types of Credit (more kinds are generally better but not enough to warrant risking not paying a bill). The score range varies by company and is about 300-850. Higher is better.

For example, check out how the rates an monthly payments vary by credit score for a 30-year fixed loan of about $300,000:

A person with very marginal credit (550) pays about 55% more per month than someone with excellent credit. The good news is that those people weren't able to get loans at all in the old days, the bad news is that they pay a ginormous premium for being sub-prime borrowers. Generally speaking, 680 is the cutoff for a "Prime Rate" loan but it is a sliding scale.

*I started working on predatory lending, sub-prime policy, etc while I was interning at The Reinvestment Fund.

In Praise of Bialetti

2008-11-24T13:10:00.003-05:00

When I moved to DC I bought a set Bialetti pots and pans at costco. For the most part they have held up very well. The workhorse of the set, a 12-inch skillet, slowly developed small splotches in it's non-stick coating. I decided that this was potentially unhealthy and certainly not normal wear+tear so I contacted the company an asked for an exchange. After sending them some pictures, they shipped me a new frying pan several years after I bought the first one. They shipped me the identical piece with no further hassle. I was impressed with their service and thought I'd pass along the kind words.

Life, Liberty and a 56% fail rate.

2008-11-24T11:48:00.003-05:00

I read over at Dailykos that a civics exam has been giving to lots of elected officials.

US elected officials scored abysmally on a test measuring their civic knowledge, with an average grade of just 44 percent, the group that organized the exam said Thursday.

Ordinary citizens did not fare much better, scoring just 49 percent correct on the 33 exam questions compiled by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI).

I took the test and scored a 29/33 which isn't so hot. I should do better than a B+ on a test of this sort. I missed questions 7, 9, 31, and 33. That said, I think my answer was correct on 31 and that 33 is a poor question with ambiguous answers.

How'd you do?

Update: after re-reading #31 I realize i just misread the second choice as increase rather than decrease (dumb) and thought it was a better choice. I am still sketched out by #33 due to it's vague wording. I had no idea than Lincoln coined of the people...I associated it with JFK who must have been quoting Lincoln. Re: 9, I got it right and was actually 30/33.

Post-Election Adjustment

2008-11-07T16:18:00.002-05:00

The hardest thing about adjusting to life post-election has been getting back to sleeping normally. I wake up at 5:15 or so every morning ready to put on a flannel shirt and go talk to workers at an industrial worksite. I look at the clock and notice it's really far away. Then I realize it's because I am in DC.

A Real Tear-Jerker

2008-11-06T12:53:00.002-05:00

This is a super touching (quick read) piece on a woman who last wish was to vote in this election. Check it out. It'll take 90 seconds and be good for the soul.
[h/t Souza]

My First Halloween

2008-11-06T12:25:00.001-05:00

Random Zach Fact: my first Halloween i went as Michael Dukakis.

We Are Getting A New Neighbor

2008-11-05T10:44:00.002-05:00

On my way to work I bike down 16th Street. I see a big house, with some columns on it. I don't much like the guy who lives there now, but he is actually moving out. A new guy is moving in. I have never put so much time and energy into choosing a neighbor.

Well, Obama is going to be our neighbor.

I knocked on roughly 3500 doors. The knuckles on the middle and ring fingers of my right hand are ever-so-slightly calloused. The Ward I grew up in (22) went for Obama. He picked up 97.25% of the vote. The Wards we worked the most in went 80.50 % (Ward 35), 68.49 % (Ward 41), and 62.33 % (Ward 45). BHO carried Philadelphia with 82.97% of the vote. Obama has won PA with 54.7% of the vote to McCain's 44.3%.

Polls closed at 8pm. I had packed the car earlier that day. Upon the last work being done I hurtled towards Washington DC, hoping to make it there before the race was called and bedlam ensued. I made it. Becca and I watched at Darin's with several friends. When the call came the windows were opened and chants came booming in from the streets. We quickly put on our shoes and went to the intersection outside his apartment building. The crowds were forming, traffic had stopped, and singing began. People yelled, cried, danced, and chanted. Yes We Did. Yes We Did. O-Bama! O-Ba-Ma! Cars began to move again, horns pulsed, fists pumped, the people had their president.

Ad Update

2008-11-02T09:14:00.000-05:00

When at home I switch between NPR and sports radio. About every 4th or 5th ad on sports radio now is a Joe the Plumber Obama will raise your taxes spot. It's spiked hugely this weekend. I don't think I heard a single McCain radio ad the first several weeks I was in PA.

From the Front Lines VIII

2008-11-01T15:23:00.002-04:00

One story from today and another from yesterday.

Today I was working in the southern part of the city. It gave rise to fictional characters like Rocky Balboa and actual characters such as Chubby Checker, Larry Fine (actor of Three Stooges fame), and Vince Papale. It was mostly an Obama friendly bunch but I had one of my first "oh my god, this person can vote?" moments. It was at the home of a woman in her mid-70s.

ZT: Have you had a chance to vote yet ma'am?
OL: I voted ansentee (wags finger). I bet you're doing the wrong thing.
ZT: Huh?
OL: I can see from your shirt you are voting for Obama.
ZT: Yes ma'am. We endorsed him because he is better for working folks.
OL: We will be in a war in 8 months. You watch.
ZT: Let me make sure I understand, you are voting for McCain because you think he is more likely to make measure peace-creating foreign policy decesions?
OL: He was captured and held by the Japanese for 20 years.
ZT: He was never captured by the Japanese. He was a Vietnam POW and held for five years. He also likes to sing about bombing Iran .
OL: You better look it up. Japanese. 20 years. You don't know what you are talking about.
ZT: Have a nice day ma'am.

Also, I forgot to mention, earlier this week, I was in a tough neighborhood and one of my houses had a big metal door with an eye bar. I knocked the eye slit opened.
"what do you want..."
"my name is Zach. I am with the AFL-CIO. I'm here supporting Obama."
"how much you want?"

It took me a second to realize I had doorknocked a drug dealing spot.
"actually i'm just going to leave a flyer. have a nice day sir."

From the Front Lines Part VII

2008-10-29T22:33:00.002-04:00

Today was another waking up at 5 morning day. I went to a different hospital to do outreach work with our clerical folks, nurses, and various sorts of interns/residents. It was mostly uneventful expect that one particularly gruff guy said Fuck Off when I offered him a flyer. Eh, I guess it's the cost of coming face-to-face with hundreds of folks a day. Some will be rude.

In happier news, here are two stories from today.

While speaking with an elderly woman I found out she was undecided after chatting and doing the normal spiel.

ZT: Have you heard any issues I can address.
EW: Well, my son says Barack isn't a citizen. Do you know anything about that.
ZT: Some people get confused because his dad wasn't American but his Mom was, he was born in the US, and raised here. He was raised by a guy who server in Patton's army.
EW: I am so relieved to hear that. I'll tell my son. You can mark me down for Obama.

(yay!)

Herm and I got hungry after we knocked on the first 100 or so peoples' doors. We stopped in at a neighborhood pizza place called Old London style pizza. I continue to find the name confusing since pizza originated in Italy and was perfected in its current form in New York City and New Haven but that is a separate issue for another day. When we came in there was a middle aged, gregarious, goateed guy putting some pizzas in an insulated sleeve. Dave soon went out to deliver them, but before he did he asked who we were supporting. I asked him who he was voting for and he said he doesn't totally agree with either of them. In 2000 he went to the booth and decided he didn't like the choices and went for "that green guy." "Nader?" I asked. "Yeah, that guy." This year Dave is going for Obama. He is the sort of white ethnic we need to make the coalition work and get Senator Obama in to the White House. After he returned and chatted with us some more we learned that Dave spends his weekends preaching and is the pastor of a local Pentacostal church. He was a fantastic guy, charming and funny. I hope we have him on our side in a lot of future elections.

From the Front Lines Part VI

2008-10-28T15:21:00.002-04:00

By now I am confident that I am on the right track with the Roman Numerals. Thanks for the help on that front.

Today I got started hella early. At 5:15 long before daybreak I roused and set off for an area University Hospital. We needed to get there ahead of the first morning nurse shift and the support workers shift. Early in our time handing out our leaflet on the economic crisis and the candidate a security guard came by in very official looking uniform.

SG: Whatcya all up to?
ZT: Helping folks think about the election a little. It's a week from today. Here, check this out (hands flyer) it explains the differences on the economy. Who are you supporting? Have you figured it out yet?
SG: Gotta keep my rounds going.
ZT: Cool man, no matter who you support, make sure you vote next tuesday.

A few minutes go by.

SG: Hey.
ZT: Good to see you again.
SG: Can I get another flyer.
ZT: Sure man. (hands a flyer).
SG: Actually. How about 2?
ZT: Here have 3. What 4.
SG: That'd be awesome.
ZT: {is puzzled}. Enjoy.

We handed out a few hundred leaflets. The rest was basically unventful. There were a few "thank yous" and a bunch of rude yutzes.

The real excitement came when I dragged my mom to an Obama rally in Chester PA.
We left the house, hit some traffic but made it there by 9:20. We had volunteer/VIP tickets since I spend most of my waking hours hitting doors. The rally was slated to start at 10AM. We were pretty late considering we didn't get into the area until 9:30 but there was still some room. Since we had the tickets, we were standing about 100 feet from the teleprompters. {here is a link to the inquirer's coverage}

The weather was my least favorite of all weather conditions. It was cold (about 34), very windy, and raining. It was just cold enough that the rain was sould chilling but not yet snow. At least we were with about 9,000 other folks. That really brightened the mood.

He said a bunch of clever things in addition to stirring and emotionally potent rhetoric.

John McCain has ridden shotgun as George Bush has driven our economy toward a cliff, and now he wants to take the wheel and step on the gas. [from Biden I think]
He was talking about tax cuts and asked how many made under $250,000 by a show of hands. Then he pointed out that 98% of small businesses make less than that as do 99.9% of plumbers.
A couple of you have these signs saying "stop global warming." This is probably not the weather to hold up those signs. I mean, I’m not into global warming either, but it’s a little chilly today.
He eventually addressed the issue of Fake v. Real Americans and pivoted to some of his themes from the 2004 address when I first heard him (I watched it with Rajiv, Sushil, and Will, I think):

Because despite what our opponents may claim, there are no real or fake parts of this country. There is no city or town that is more pro-America than anywhere else – we are one nation, all of us proud, all of us patriots. There are patriots who supported this war in Iraq and patriots who opposed it; patriots who believe in Democratic policies and those who believe in Republican policies. The men and women who serve in our battlefields may be Democrats and Republicans and Independents, but they have fought together and bled together and some died together under the same proud flag. They have not served a Red America or a Blue America – they have served the United States of America.
Here is a text of most of the speech.

A few misc thoughts.
Obama was wearing jeans, sneakers, and some sort of bomber jacket. Despite this I had to push away recurring thoughts of William Henry Harrison.

Obama got 9,000 out in a sleepy suburb with 36,000 people mid-morning on a weekday with horrizontal rain/sleet, very chilly temperatures, and plenty of mud. McCain canceled his rally this morning due to inclement weather. Either McCain isn't that tough or more likelt he was scared shitless no one would come to his rally. Either way, it was a beautiful thing to see so many Obama supporters out on such a rotten day. To our left was a African American man just begining college. On our right was an elderly white guy in a trenchcoat. His hands were clenched and he was shivering but he soldiered on in his Korean War Veteran hat. It felt like an honor to be in that crowd today. I hope there are many more to come.

From the Front Lines Part V

2008-10-27T17:22:00.003-04:00

Now that we are past Roman numeral 4 I feel confident I will get the numbers right, at least until it's time for 6.

Anyways, no leafleting this morning (thank god). Today we worked a historically Polish neighborhood. I wouldn't have thought this neighborhood would be much different in political orientation from the adjoining Italian and Irish neighborhoods we had already worked. In fact, we talked to nearly as many McCain backers as Obama folks today. First a trend, and then a pair of anecdotes.

There was especially high McCain support among those with what I think were Polish names. I have two theories as to why Polish people would be more McCain backing than white folks as a whole.

1: The neighborhood, like many ethnic enclaves, has become less ethnically identified over time. Thus the younger people are a more typical mix of Philadelphia ethnicities. As a result, the older folks who have been living in the neighborhood for 70+ years tend to be Polish. Thus, Poles in the neighborhood tend to be older. The McCain backing may have to do with age as much as anything.

2: The neighborhood is framed around a church (Catholic i think) and a Catholic school (dedicated to Pope John Paul). Perhaps the Poles we talked to were disproportionately Catholic.

It would make sense that Catholic+Old would produce more McCain friendly responses than the general population. As usual with these things it could also be a random distribution based on a small sample (we only spoke with 100 or so many of whom didn't wish to divulge their choice).

Now for some anecdotes.

We had lunch in a very tasty neighborhood pizza joint. After we tried to figure out what the deal was with her tatoos from afar, Herman bucked up and asked the waitress what they meant.

Herman: So, I hope I am not overstepping my bounds here, but what does your tattoo mean?
Waitress: (smiles, sheepishly) actually it says my name in another language.
ZT: Oh, neat what language.
W: From a movie, Lord of the Rings.
H: Oh. Is it Elvish?
W: (smiles, more genuinely) yeah. I looked it up online and translated my name and though, y'know, it looked cool. So I got it.

Wow, first time I have ever seen an Elvish tattoo.

I talked to a guy today, a young retiree, maybe 65, who was backing McCain. He made a few arguments that I hear a lot (better on taxes, Obama is a socialist, etc) but what surprised me is that he said he didn't like Democrats controlling all the branches of government. I'd be surprised if this guy had gone to college based on the sorts of words he used (big, probably unfair, and possibly incorrect guess) so I wonder if this is big on Faux news or the other conservative organs of information dissemination like talk radio. He went on to say that he thought that "Pelosi and that other guy, can't think of his name, are way to liberal."

All in all, a frustrating day. Lots of McCainies out there, some with a good analysis of the issues, some with creepy half-truths and slanders. This thing is far from over.

Update: The guy who mentioned the various socialist/mixed govt/etc points also prefaced them by saying "i'm not a racist or anything" and lastly added that he didn't like Obama's "attitude" and that he was "cocky." These are obviously important points. My grandpa Sam occasionally would offer streetwise advice. I remember him saying "don't ever trust someone more because they say trust me." I suppose there is a corallary for racism. Folks "who say I am not doing X because I am a racist" aren't necesarily racist or not racist but that is a claim that should raise the burden of proof necesary to demonstrate an appearingly racist position as reasonable.

From the Front Lines Part IV

2008-10-26T10:35:00.002-04:00

(Embarrassingly, I always get confused about which Roman Numeral is 4 and which is 6. Let me know if I screwed it up.)

Before I mention a few experiences from Saturday, here is a hysterical post written by a sportswriter about Obama picking a fantasy football team. Thanks Judy H for sharing it on google reader!

Saturday I was leafleting. We met up at the Postal Workers' union hall. Some folks from NY's Transport Workers Union Local 100 joined us. Al and Donovan joined Herman and I to work a piece of turf with about 100 folks. Al woke up at 3AM to come down on the TWU bus. He repairs and maintains the electrical systems on buses and subway cars in NYC. Donavan does track and line work in the tunnels. We knocked through our packet pretty quick. The folks were about half "not home" and half Barrackies. It was really terrific to see folks come down from NYC. They dedicated their day to this. Put in two transit hours per canvass hour. Good for them.

From the Front Lines Part III

2008-10-24T16:54:00.003-04:00

Yesterday I was working in a heavily African-American Neighborhood. I knocked on the door of an 84 year old guy.

ZT: "Mr. Williams?"
Mr. Williams: Yes, who are you?
ZT: My name is Zach, I work the union...
MW: Of course, I'm supporting Obama. Look around. Everyone on my block is supporting Obama, everyone on the next block is supporting Obama, come to think of it, everyone in the neighborhood is supporting Obama, and quite frankly, young man, since you're supporting him, you could move in on my block too.
(I mark him down as a supported. there is no place to note the fervency.)

Today I got up awful early and went to the Water Department and leafleted outside the rear entrance. They had tons of cool equipment laid out, pipes, manhole covers, huge trucks with enormous pumps of various sorts, etc. It would have been heaven for me when I was 7 and obsessed with heavy machinery. I talked to a bunch of folks. One lady told me " 'course i am not voting for McCain. Guy can't do anything right. He is famous for crashing his damn plane. What kinds of skill does that take. If I crashed my truck would people elect me President? I don't think so. I'd get fired."

I talked to another guy who was worried about taxes and thought Obama would raise them. I explained that it was only if he was making more than $250,000 and otherwise he'd be better off with BHO. He said "cool, then I'm in."

Today I was working in a mostly Irish-American neighborhood. Herman and I knocked on the door which was listed as having two women, one 60 or so the other 80. After a minute, a woman (Mary) answered. She had an oxygen feed going and lots of surgical scars. We asked who she was supporting.
M: I'm, uh, err, undecided.
ZT: Are their specific issues which are important to you? Anything that you may have heard that I can respond to.
M: (looks around cautiously). We are in lots of trouble as a nation and I am basically going to vote for Obama. We need change. The Republicans have really gotten us into trouble. It's bad.
ZT: (nodding along).
M: My mom is very sick, probably dying, and a staunch Republican.
ZT: Sorry to hear that she is ill.
M: She says "I am heading out but I'm still voting for McCain." I (Mary) say "Mom, think of the rest of us, vote Democratic."
ZT: (keeps nodding).
M: I tell my girls, we know who we are voting for, just don't tell grandma she'll get ornery. I said undecided before because I thought Mom was in the living room. We're for Obama. Don't worry.
ZT: Thank you ma'am. That was very inspiring.

From the Front Lines Part II

2008-10-23T00:07:00.003-04:00

My days usually involve leafleting and chatting with members of our union at their worksites as they arrive for their shifts and going door-to-door talking to union members and their families. I had a classic labor moment today. I woke up at 5am while it was still pitch black. By the time I arrived at the Streets and Sanitation yard, the sun still hadn't begun to break. The trash trucks were idling and I was there to talk to our sanitation workers. With a stack of literature in gloved hands I met my first member of the morning. He was an African-American guy getting out of a late model Dodge.
"Who are you," he asked. "Never seen you around here before," he continued.
Admittedly, I didn't blend in very well, sorta like the organizer in Norma Rae (for the union movie geeks out there). I arrived in the rental car, a Hyundai Sonata with NY tags. I was a lot paler than the rest of the folks, and dressed a bit differently.
"I work for the union. I'm here to talk to folks about the election."
We chatted some more about the issues.
"If you just tell people you are here supporting Obama, you'll do just fine," he said as we walked into the yard. The yard is where the guys come, congregate, and enter the building in which they put on their jump suits and get ready to roll out.

When I entered the area there was a long-haried, bearded tough looking white guy leaning on his pickup truck, smoking a cigarette, and removing and restoring his trucker hat.
"Demographics are against me on this one," I thought to myself.
I announced myself, said hello and handed him a flyer. It was too dim to read the flyer well but he said "I'm a' gonna vote for Obama. McCain, uh, I just don't like him. He done good in Vietnam, but he's not for working people."
"Thank God! We may win this yet," I thought.
After going through a stack of 100 flyers, the sun was still burried behind the black sky.
One guy told me that he'd been waiting "60 years for this chance." I got slapped on the back a lot when I told people the union was supporting Obama. They loved it. I have rarely felt better about doing this sort of political work or more like a part of a workers movement. The trucks were rumbling and begining to roll out. I was out of material and workers had all reported for their shifts. I hopped back in the Hyundai and headed home to sleep a couple more hours. The sun was just starting to turn the sky dark purple when I hit the sack and went back to bed.

From the Front Lines Part I

2008-10-21T20:59:00.003-04:00

I have been working in a swing state the past couple weeks and will continue to reach out and mobilize union families to vote until the e-day. Mostly, Herman (a middle aged African-American colleague of mine) and I work together. He is a terrific guy and we've been having a lot of fun.
I thought folks might be interested to hear about good and bad moments from my door knocking experiences. When I have a few minutes I'll try to share some.

Location: Largely white middle class neighborhood.
Herman and I knock on a door. A woman answers, we ask to speak with the person listed on our sheet. "My sister is not home."
Herman asks if she knows who her sister will be supporting.
[awkwardly long pause]
"the black guy!"
Herman and I smile and chuckle a bit.
"Did i say something wrong? I just couldn't remember his name."
"No ma'am," Herman Says.
"It's Senator Obama," I say.
"That's right Bruhak Obama, I remember now."

At least she was voting BHO i suppose.

---------

Location: Same neighborhood as above.

I knock on a door alone. The woman answers, and we begin to chat.
She hasn't decided yet. I ask what is on her mind.
She says: "I'll decide after the next few debates."
Uh oh, I hope she means after she watches them on TIVO.

Men, Women, Cellphones and Sample Bias

2008-09-26T15:07:00.002-04:00

I was reading a an analysis of why Ann Selzer is such a good pollster over at 538 and got to thinking about sample bias in political polling. Young people tend to be more cell phone dependent as everyone has read by now. This makes them less likely to to be counted resulting in the polls skewing older (and more favorable to McCain). Young people are more likely to screen their calls and not pick up unrecognized numbers. Everything so far is old news.

My thought is this, aren't men much more likely to respond to an unrecognized number. My personal experience suggests that men often pickup unrecognized numbers and women rarely do. Do other people agree that this is the general trend? If so, then there should be a bias towards including more young men than women. The cross-tabs would clarify this. If it's a problem then, since women are more likely to support Democrats, this would hurt Obama's poll numbers relative to his actual performance.

Election Point

2008-09-23T11:07:00.003-04:00

A new NBC News/Mason-Dixon poll in Florida finds Sen. Barack Obama leading Sen. John McCain, 47% to 45%.

If Florida goes Blue Obama and PA stays Blue would need to win only one of Nevada, Ohio, NH, Colorado, New Mexico, Michigan, and Virginia. This is very good news indeed. Of course, we are still behind in the rolling-average of polls in FL and a lot is yet to happen but this is very good news nonetheless.

Unrelatedly, here are two Eagles points.

So far the Eagles have played the Cowboys (Marion Barber), the Steelers (Willie Parker), and the Rams (Stephen Jackson) three teams with top backs and excellent rushing attacks. According to the Inquirer:

In [those] three games, they have allowed an average of 45.7 yards on the ground, well ahead of No. 2 Minnesota (70.3).

That is what they did to three top running teams. Think about what will happen when they go up against a mediocre or poor rushing team.

Secondly, the Inquirer also pointed this out:

The Eagles are 11-6 the week following an appearance on Monday Night Football since Reid became coach in 1999

This initially seems impressive. I then thought, wait a second, the Eagles were very good over that period, and it makes sense to compare it to their overall production. If a team that was 11-80 over several years was 11-6 after Monday Night Football, you'd say "wow fascinating". In this case, though, during the Andy Reid era mentioned above the team is 90-57 (61% winning percentage). 11-6 works out to a 64% winning percentage. This is a difference liekly attributable to statistical noise given the small variance (5%) and sample size (17).

Ad from MN

2008-09-18T11:31:00.004-04:00

I don't think that, before 5 minutes ago, I had ever watched a political ad that left me misty eyed. Here is one running in Minnesota:

Wow. Just wow.

Hockey Moms for Truth

2008-09-17T15:33:00.003-04:00

I think this is the funniest 1:30 so far in this campaign:

My favorite line: "It was Sarah's turn to bring the juice but she, um, she left it in her car for another mom to take in. it was...really heavy." I presume the whole thing is bogus, but still enjoyable.

Keating 5 and Its Contemporary Relevance

2008-09-17T13:27:00.004-04:00

We witnessed a banking scandal in the 80s and 90s commonly called the S&L Crisis. Obviously this shouldn't be confused with the SNL crisis in the mid/late 90s (that it stopped being funny). Anyways, the basic problem was that 700+ local savings banks went belly-up because deregulation and "imprudent" real estate lending combined to create substantial vulnerability.

One of the most facinating parts of the S&L Crisis was the Keating 5 Scandal.

The Keating Five were five United States Senators accused of corruption in 1989, igniting a major political scandal as part of the larger Savings and Loan crisis of the late 1980s and early 1990s. They were accused of substantially and improperly interfering with the FHLBB in its investigation of Lincoln Savings.

Basically, Charles Keating ran a bank which failed due to his corrupt mismanagement. He was being investigated for that misconduct. He gave $1.3M (a huge deal back then) to various US Senators. He then called on them to help him resist regulators and avoid punishment for his role in the crisis.

I am sure you are shocked, yes shocked, to hear that John McCain was one of the Senators who accepted money and tried to defend a corrupt bank CEO who took advantage of dergulation to hurt people for his own gain. McCain leaked crticial details of the investigation, pleaded with regulators to let Keating off lightly, and was ultimately crticiszed by the Senate Ethics Committee for his behavior.

In the years since, McCain has chaired the Senate Commerce Committee. I think they don't have much to do with regulating the bank sysyem but they do impact related regulation. McCain was in the Senate when major deregulation occured and didn't do much to stop it. Here we are again and a Senator with a history of supporting deregulation and corruptly assisting the people gave him money and helped him with investments as they avoided prosecution for hurting working people, this candidate is talking tough about regulation. Every shred of historical evidence about McCain and banking scandals says the guy is creepy, guilty, and has poor judgement. Steer clear America. We can't afford another banking collapse nor ought we let those responsible off.

Meltdown

2008-09-16T17:42:00.002-04:00

I have had several people gchat me asking what this "meltdown" means for them. There is a good column in the NYT along those lines. I think this is the most important piece for young folks:

As for the long term, it rarely makes sense to sell everything or to stop contributing to a 401(k) in the hope of knowing when the market has hit bottom and it is time to invest again.

Since most of us under 40 have 25 or more years left in the labor market, this will turn out to be a blip. Perhaps a nasty blip, like a spider bit, but will even out. The major short-term impact is that the stock market dropped an awful lot. Since it's smart to buy-and-hold, that shouldn't matter much to long-term investors. In the medium term, this kind of industry consolidation may restrict competitive pressures and drive up fees. We will need tough regulation to prevent that outcome.

Don't panic that your bank account will suddenly vaporize. All that money is FDIC insured (up to $100,000, more for retirement accounts) and will be fine unless the government collapses. If that happens, you'll have a lot more trouble than your bank not releasing you checking account funds. The US govt should be fine. This may be the one major advantage of having an army vastly more expensive than other countries, no one can call our loans in.

All this to say, don't panic. You are in it for the long-haul. Make sure you put your monthly investments into your retirement accounts. We don't know if this is the bottom, but if it is, you don't want to be the guy who panicked and missed some of the best recovery days ever.

1 Minute of Stress Relief Led by Kermit

2008-09-10T12:42:00.001-04:00

This is because I think it is time for a break from my normal cynical/histrionic posting schedule. The Muppets are a constant source of solace, smiles, and faith in the human endeavor. Here is a 1-minute clip full of cuteness that should brighten your days.

Putting Alaska in Context

2008-09-09T14:37:00.002-04:00

Just for the sake of putting Alaska in context I thought it'd be good to learn a little more about its human and physical geography. It is 656,424 sq mi in size. Alaska is often shrunk in US maps so many have a poor concept of how it relates to the lower 48. Below is a map showing it in more familiar terms. Alaska is about 18% the size of the continental 48 states combined and more than twice as big as any of them.
Despite it's staggering size the population of Alaska is a mere 683,478. That is roughly half the size of the population of the Bronx. It is much closer in population to Staten Island than any of the main boroughs.

Not a Maverick (New Obama Ad)

2008-09-09T12:03:00.002-04:00

Here is a new Obama ad:

If you change the time of an event and need to announce it you shouldn't say the old time. For instance, "The event is no longer at 6:30 it's now 7" leaves people much less confused than "the event is at 7, an earlier announcement was wrong, apologies." After an hour or two, people sometimes remember the two times but not which is right.

Along those lines, I like the macro message but the micro message sucks. They say maverick many times with pictures of Palin and McCain. Subconsciously this supports the Republican messaging. Better would have been to say, "these guys aren't mavericks at all. they are typical politicians." When they show the lobbyists say "typical politicians are advised by high-priced corporate lobbyists." When they show Palin on the bridge to nowhere say she is a typical flip-flopper. We need alternative frames. If we try to frame them as "not mavericks" we stand a poor chance of getting our messaging to stick.

We need counter-messaging. Perhaps we could create a variation, how about Palin is a "maverick from the truth." If that stuck, every time she says I'm a maverick, people think "or is she a liar?"

I'd like to see McCain as a "typical republican." That ad could have some guys in rocking chairs sadly lamenting, saying things like "remember years ago when McCain used to be bipartisan." "What has he done since winning the nomination that is any different from any Republican?" "Well I suppose he has more lobbyists than Bush." "Too bad he is just a typical Republican." "What a shame."

Don't Mourn, Organize

2008-09-04T14:16:00.002-04:00

When Joe Hill was on his death bed, legend has it that he said, "when i die, don't mourn, organize." Well, a lot of people are worried in the aftermath of a punchy Palin talk. Here is some evidence to cheer you up. Check out this trend (h/t Pollster):

It's the electoral trend since January 2007 in Virginia. McCain started up 58-38 (+20). By now, he is down to about 48-51 (-3). According to the stats at Pollster.com if Obama wins the states where he is currently ahead by 5% or more and one of these swing states: CO, NC, VA, OH, or Florida...he will win. If he loses all those swing states (very unlikely) but still wins NV and NH, or MT, ND and one of NV/NH he will also win.

We gotta just buckle down, give money, make calls, and organize. If we do, we will win.

On Naming Children

2008-09-04T10:13:00.002-04:00

According to WikiPedia Sarah Palin's children are named:

Bristol (born 1990)

Track (born 1989)

Trig (born 2008)

Piper (born 2001)

Willow (born 1995)

This woman isn't even qualified to name her own children let alone assume the presidency.

Not Just Demographically Historic, Biologically Historic

2008-09-03T16:59:00.002-04:00

I was under the impression that Obama's candidacy was largely historic for demographic reasons: first post-baby boom candidate, first multi-racial candidate, etc. It turns out that (according to ABC's Terry Moran) Obama's candidacy is biologically historic as well. Check out the 10-second clip below. You'll be glad you did.

Palin Thoughts

2008-08-29T12:09:00.003-04:00

Sarah Palin is McCain's choice. Here is her political experience:

Wasilla City Council1992-6
Wasilla (pop. 5,470) Mayor 1996-2002(?)
Ethics Commissioner of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission 2003-2004
Alaska Governor (2007-8) (Alaska has roughly the same population as DC)

By contrast, Quayle had served in the house for 4 years and the Senate for 8 when he was selected as Bush I's running mate.

Is she ready to be "1 heartbeat away from the presidency"?

McCain obviously thinks so. This is grossly hypocritical in light of his attacks on Obama who has wowed world leader, been a Senator, and exercised keen judgment. She is busy trying to get polar bears off the endangered species list to help oil drillers and tweaking the budget of a state the size of DC. Yikes.

One last, largely unrelated point: being a republican from Alaska is a little bit like being in solid-waste management in New Jersey, you may be clean, but the odds are strongly against it. For all her talk of clean government, i expect we shall find out she has done several less than savory things for personal gain.

Union Workers

2008-08-28T14:54:00.003-04:00

Many people have a misconception that union workers are all gruff, white, male factory workers. This, of course, is silly but doesn't stop people from minimizing the diversity of union jobs. I noticed this in HRC's speech on Tuesday night:

...teachers and firefighters, nurses and police officers...and union workers

This statement implies that teachers, firefightes, nurses, and police officers, are generally not unionized since union workers are treated as a separate category. For instance if I said ice cream will be served to Sarah, Tony, and the bad children, it would imply that Sarah and Tony were NOT bad children.

I am not well versed in BLS stats. I found this after some digging on teacher's stats:

In 2006, more than half of all elementary, middle, and secondary school teachers belonged to unions—mainly the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association—that bargain with school systems over salaries, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment.

There are two major US education unions, the AFT has 1.4M members and the NEA has 3.2M members. According to census there are slighly over 6M teachers in the US. This means apprxomately 75% of US teachers are union. The number is probably somewhat lower since some AFT and NEA members aren't classroom teachers but suffice it to say most teachers in the US are union.

According to the International Association of Firefighters (AFL-CIO), they represent 290,000 full-time professional fire fighters and paramedics who protect 85% of the nation’s population. The overall number of firefighters represented is probably less than 85% but the main point is that the overwhelming majority of American firefighters are unionized.

There are more than 12 unions which represent nurses and much ambiguity about calculating union rate in that industry since there isn't a universally accepted agreement on which healthcare professionals should properly be considered nurses.

Police Officers are also somewhat ambiguous, are parole officers in? Correctional guards? Sheriffs? Many law enforcement officers have quasi-unions, and others have conventional unions. Most police officers, if you slice it in a reasonable way, have a union or union-like collective representation structure.

All this to say, let's stop implying that nurses, police, firefighters, EMTs, etc aren't union members. Usually they are.

Clarification: HRC is very good on union issues. I just noticed this messaging issue in a speech of hers this week. I presume it was an accident. This shouldn't be read as a criticism of HRC's labor record or an implication that she hasn't been a friend.

Life in Ohio

2008-08-28T10:10:00.003-04:00

Some new polling is reported over at Politicalwire:

The new Akron Buckeye Poll in Ohio finds Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain tied at 40% each with another 20% still undecided.

Key findings:
Obama's supporters are more satisfied with the candidates and enthusiastic about the campaign than McCain's supporters.
Only 45 percent of Clinton primary voters were supporting Obama.
McCain's age may be a bigger factor than Obama's race among Ohio voters.
A majority of registered voters say Obama will win Ohio in 2008, despite the fact that the candidates are tied in the level of support.

The most striking thing here is that only 45 percent of Clinton primary voters were supporting Obama. Wow. If Obama loses this election, it will likely be because of HRC's going over the line in making her case. No matter how nicely she behaves now, she was substantially undermining the party for roughly a year. She better make a lot more speeches like Tuesday's convention address to overcome her selfish and destructive primary behavior. For starters she better get on a plane to Ohio and fix this mess.

Happiness

2008-08-26T13:49:00.002-04:00

Once, several years ago, I was having a conversation with Yitz Greenberg in which he said something that has stuck with me ever since.

If you seek happiness it will elude you. It can only be attained as the byproduct of living a life of meaning.

Smart guy.

Thoughts on Biden

2008-08-25T11:48:00.002-04:00

Picking Biden tells us some things about Obama's strategy:

He Will Be Hitting McCain Harder
Biden is famously gaffe-producing. This is offset by his witty and humorous attacks. For example, he ended Giuliani with the now-famous Noun + Verb + 9/11 quip. Unless you are willing to let him loose to attack and joke he has no way to offset his occasional gaffes. They know this and made an exciting freewheelin' pick that will make the campaign more fun and make McCain the recipient of sharper and more memorable attacks.

They Will Play in Florida
It is fairly well know that Biden is popular with Jews. He is also popular with Older Voters. What swing states have a lot of older voters and Jewish voters? Florida, of course.

Obama Isn't Grudge-Oriented
We've all heard the phrase "don't get mad; get even." Obama got hit with some ripe Biden nastygrams (like a telegram but more public and nastier. He still VPed him. Obama did it because it was politically expedient and smart. Way to eschew vengefullness in favor of victory.

Lastly, I am saddened at an unfulfilled vision. Once it became clear that the TXT from Obama announcing his VP pick would come out on a friday night, I had this vision that all of a sudden, in the midst of the Amidah (the silent prayer) in the young progressive minyan i am part of, all of a sudden dozens of cell phones would chime, buzz, ring, dance, and sing, all in unison. That would have been awesome. Oh well, getting a txt at 3AM is just a little less dramatic.

Reginald and the Food Larceny

2008-08-22T16:14:00.004-04:00

I sometimes forget stories over time. I thought it might be a good idea to write a few of my favorites down. Here is one I was recently reminded of.
---

On evening, sophomore year of college(I think), I was planning to take the bus up to Boston to visit my dad who was at a conference. I got to the dining hall at 7:20, a good 10 minutes prior to closing. Pfew. They swiped my card. When I got to the food area, it had all been taken away. Damn. All that was left was the cake. I figured I'd spent $9 or so of meal credit, and that i'd need to eat roughly a whole cake to get my money's worth but didn't have the time. Just then, I ran into my friend AG (who was dining with BF). I asked him if he'd be so kind as to walk towards the door, on the side of the building that he and several friends lived on. As he went I scooped up a cake and walked on his other side so as to avoid detection. As AG realized the scheme, he sped up. So did I, not wanting to lose the human shield. A few steps later we were safely in Marcy House, where Ari lived. We invited IC and enjoyed the cake mightily. We had evaded detection but nonetheless we were all still nervous (as dorky Jews get when they break rules) and hadn't yet seen our heart rates return to normal levels.

I hopped on a Bonanza Bus to Boston. En route I got bored of reading and made a few calls. The first was to AG.

"Hello ___. This is Reginald from University Food Services Quality Control. I understand you were involved in a food larceny. If you were coerced into involvement and I can help you with reduced scrutiny if you cooperate fully. If not, this will no minor issue. Please contact me at 401-863-1000"

Then I had a very pleasant meal with my Aba.

I didn't know it at the time, but AG didn't get the message until 3AM when he returned to his room. As is typical of college students returning to their rooms he wasn't in the crispest state of mind due to several factors none of which is fit for public discussion and all of which could be referred to as youthful indiscretions.

Upon hearing this message, his mind raced and he became very concerned. Would this go in his permanent record? Would deans be involved? Would his parents be notified? Would he be thrown out of school?

AG woke up BF saying "hey man. you know i didn't know what was going on, right? You'll testify to that, right? This was totally on Zach. You're with me? RIGHT?"

He called the number given, (401) 863-1000 which, incidentally, is the main university switchboard. "Hey this is AG. I'm calling for Reginald from University Food Services Quality Control. Hey Reginald, I am sorry it took me so long to get back to you, i was at a party. If I'd known there was an investigation I totally would have gone straight there. I just didn't know. Believe me, I take this kind of thing very seriously. I will cooperate. I was coerced. I'll name names. Tell me what I have to do to set this right. What sort of trouble am I in? Again, sorry I didn't get back to you sooner, I'll cooperate this is ____. You can call me back at ________."

That first call was at 4AM late Saturday night/Sunday morning.

He then called again a few hours later around 8:30AM on Sunday morning.

"This is ________ calling for Reginald from University Food Services Quality Control. Reginald,I haven't heard back from you, but just wanted to reiterate my offer to cooperate fully. I will name names. Please contact me at your earliest convenience using this number ________."

Upon my return early Sunday afternoon, I was tipped off that AG bought the whole thing, to a shocking degree, mostly because of the luck of when he returned home and his state of mind at that moment.

AG: Zach, did you get any messages.
ZT: Um, haven't checked since I left for Boston. Why?
AG: Well. Uh. Here (hands phone).
ZT: (dialing), oh yeah, I did get one.
AG: Man, I bet it's Reginald. Man, We are soooo fucked.
ZT: It's some guy from food something or another.
AG: They got us man. We're fucked. What are we going to do? This all your fault you fuckin' idiot.
ZT: He wants to know why you are so gullible.
AG: (attacks ZT--minor, generally playful, brawling ensues)

I never did find out who picked up those messages or what the university operator thought when she listened to them that Monday morning.

One More Reason John McCain Probably Shouldn't be President

2008-06-13T10:46:00.002-04:00

The Hill reports:

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and his wife reported more than $100,000 of credit card liabilities, according to financial disclosure documents released Friday.

The presidential candidate and his wife Cindy reported piling up debt on a charge card between $10,000 and $15,000. His wife’s solo charge card has between $100,000 and $250,000 in debt to American Express.

That is real bad. $100,000 in credit card debt. Yikes. I generally tell our members that any debt is really bad because of the way it snowballs. Very smart, competent people can get into credit card debt, the companies are good at tricking people, but most of us aren't running for president. If you aren't going to handle the details yourself, delegate them. The McCains are extremely rich. No reason to be paying thousands of dollars for the benefit of ignoring your business. A thousand dollars, i get. It take a while to rack up as much debt as the three of them have. Sheesh. This guy can't even keep his own finances in order, much less our country's.

Make the Pie Higher

2008-06-12T15:54:00.001-04:00

I was just reminded of my favorite poem of the new millennium. It has brought joy to my heart since it's composition.

This following poem is composed entirely of actual quotes from George W. Bush.

Make the Pie Higher

I think we all agree, the past is over.
This is still a dangerous world.
It's a world of madmen
And uncertainty
And potential mental losses.

Rarely is the question asked
Is our children learning?
Will the highways of the internet
Become more few?
How many hands have I shaked?

They misunderestimate me.
I am a pitbull on the pantleg of opportunity.
I know that the human being and the fish
Can coexist.

Families is where our nation finds hope
Where our wings take dream.
Put food on your family!
Knock down the tollbooth!
Vulcanize society!
Make the pie higher!
Make the pie higher!

Source: Richard Thompson

Recall Rules

2008-06-05T18:02:00.001-04:00

Does anyone know about how the CT rules work for recalling a senator? It just doesn't seem right for a guy actively and nastily campaigning for a Republican president and speaking at the RNC convention to be a committee chair in a Dem Senate. As long as he gives them a majority I suppose they have to put up with his crap, but if were to be recalled he'd surely be replaced with an actual democrat. I am feeling better about giving to the Lamont campaign all the time.

Spelling Bee Beauty

2008-06-02T00:17:00.001-04:00

I didn't realize that spelling bees had entertaining dramatic moments. Here you go:

Renting and Buying

2008-05-28T12:26:00.004-04:00

It wasn't long ago that major defining dichotomies in my peer group included Boxers v. Briefs and Science v. Humanities. As the years have gone by Renting v. Buying has made a big showing as an important and interesting question. People don't really discuss it much in person. I think this is related to the American taboo on discussing money. There are a lot of incorrect assumptions used in general. Here are a few thoughts:

Buying is an important part of living the American Dream. This is put forward by agents everywhere because it sells houses. Car makers do the same thing. I wouldn't be suprised if the white-picket-fence lobby was involved in the initial framing.
Renting is throwing away money. Buying things generally requires upfront costs and renting requires ongoing costs. At some point there is usually a breakeven point. For instance, it costs about $125 to rent a tuxedo. It costs about $300 to buy a nice one if you are smart about it. If you plan to wear yours 3 times in the next 5 years, buy. don't rent. In the case of houses, they require borrowing money. The way to price it out, is to make assumptions about how much the house will appreciate in market price, and pair those with the actual knowledge of how much it will cost you to borrow the money to buy it. If the interest rate is higher than the appreciation rate, you may be making a mistake. There are two other major issues to consider, the mortgage deduction and the opportunity cost of owning. The bad news about getting a loan is that much of the money you pay the bank is interest. The good news is that you get a special tax break called the mortgage deduction. Basically, you don't pay income tax on the portion of your income that goes to paying interest from your mortgage. This advantage is partially offset by the fact that you have to pay property taxes. Lastly, if, instead of putting 20% of the purchase price as a down payment, you invested the money, you'd be getting interest on it. For instance if you put down $50,000 and got a 30 year loan, by the end of those 30 years, the $50,000 would have grown to about $400,000. Putting money down on a house prevents you from pursuing other profitable ways to use the money. A major cost of putting money down is those lost oppurtunities, this is called opportunity cost. Your house would need to appreciate dramatically to makeup for the $400,000 you theoretically could have made if you kept on renting.
These numbers are like super complicated, man. There is a great calculator here, put out by the NYT which addresses some of the above issues.
According to this article if price to buy is 15 times greater than annual rent the two options are financially similar. (Not sure how, if at all, he factored in opportunity cost.) It follows that if a house costs more than about 15 times the annual rent, you'd pay less renting over the foreseeable near future and if a house costs less than about 14 times you'd be best off buying if you plan to stay a while.
How about if you don't plan to stay a while? There are one-time costs when you buy a house. These non-recurring expenses are often called closing costs. In DC they tend to run about 3% of the transaction and include things like broker fees, paperwork costs, etc. The shorter you live somewhere the greater the issue of closing costs. If you move after two years the closing costs work out to about 1.5% per year that you lived there. Over ten years it's just .3%. Given that home appreciation over time approximated inflation (~3%), if you move quickly closing costs eat up most of your appreciation.
But my landlord doesn't get things fixed quickly. That's a good point. It is nice to be in control of your living situation. There reasons to own that aren't financial.

All things considered there are good arguments for owning, some financial, some not, but there is a lot of bad information out there and it's rare, so far as I have heard, to find real estate professionals who understand or communicate the real financial issues.

The Proper Analogy

2008-04-24T17:49:00.002-04:00

It is difficult to find the proper analogy, working at many levels, to describe where HRC currently finds herself. Additional wins seem to help but actually hurt if they aren't big enough because of the time they eat up.

How about this analogy:
HRC is down 100-90 with 1 minute to go in the basketball game. Most of the game has already been played and she is down only 5% of the total score but it is damn hard to net 10 points in one minute of basketball. It is hard enough to score 10 points yourself, but you also have to keep your opponent from scoring. She just won PA which makes her down 9 points. If she loses NC and Indiana, she will be down 13 points, but, the worst part: instead of a minute left, she will be down 13 points with 25 seconds or so.

Does this work to explain why she can win and still have her situation worsen?

Supers say chill out to Clinton

2008-03-27T10:38:00.002-04:00

Finally! (from PoliticalWire)

"At a time when Sen. Hillary Clinton is increasingly relying on superdelegates to vault her to the Democratic Party's nomination, a handful of undecided and pledged superdelegates are coming forward to say her campaign's tactics in recent weeks are doing more harm than good," according to NBC News.

"The Democratic Party insiders say they believe Clinton's direct attacks against Sen. Barack Obama in recent days are hurting the party and its chances in November, and also say it is showing a calculated, desperate-to-win side of Clinton that they dislike."

I am glad this is finally happening. The supers need to keep Clinton from toxifying Obama.

New Ad Idea

2008-03-26T17:29:00.002-04:00

Would this work as a 527 expenditure*?

1: video roles of Clinton talking about the crazy landing in Bosnia, the sniper fire, not even being able to stop. --> Cuts to video of the serene ceremony.
2: Video roles of Clinton taking credit for SCHIP. --> cuts to clips of the folks who brought us SCHIP saying HRC didn't have anything to do with it.
3: Clinton takes credit for Irish peace-->gets set straight.
4: Clinton says she was involved in tense security moments-->cuts to a senior aide saying she never even had security clearance.

Kicker (voiceover): What can we expect from HRC? That she'll do what she always does. The only things Clinton will be ready to do on day 1 is mislead.

*It couldn't be an Obama ad, probably, because he has run on themes of unity and positivity.

preparing a prayer space

2008-03-24T15:35:00.001-04:00

When (if?) you walk into a major retailer, be it Whole Foods, Express, or Apple, you are likely to be attracted in a specific direction, like most other folks. The direction you are pulled in is not an accident so much as the product of millions of dollars worth of research into lighting, spacing, use of color, sound, product organization, and signage. As it happens, there is enough demand to have created the need for specialized store designers and their accompanying professional organizations.

About a year ago when i started writing this post (before i totally got overwhelmed with workflow) Eli K-S encouraged me to write down some of the guiding principles and minor logistical issues that go into a well prepared davening space. We will never spend a dollar on improving the design, but I am certainly interested in using our collective brainpower to effectively consider the small nuances they way the folks due when they build a hotel lobby, a supermarket, or a cafe.

Unlike the retail establishment our chief goal is to create a meaningful experience, rather than to create sales in the near and far terms. The goals, though, may not be as different as they initially appear. That said, i don't intend to wander into the discussion about whether marketing analysis ought to be used in creating religious community. For more on that you can check out this WSJ article and r. daniel brenner's excellent response.

Since our goal isn't to sell stuff we need to set up our spaces differently than commercial spaces are designed. The design of our space, at its most artful, would evoke our values and create the sort of experience we envision. Any discussion of designing a space should begin with a discussion of the values we hope to realize therein.

There are several values issues that impact whether a community chooses to use the Single Direction Approach (SDA), the Circle Approach (CA), or some other approach. I discussed some of those issues here and BZ responds here.This post will primarily deal, not with which approach is preferable but how to implement each in a way which maximizes vibrancy, inclusiveness, ease of movement, intimacy/anonymity, and Al Tifrosh Min Hatzibur (ATMH--don't set yourself off from the community). You can skip the next section on the principles. I say a word on them because I am using some of the terms in a way that may not be intuitive, so I wanted to explain my usage before I utilize them in discussing different aspects of different setups.

A word on the principles:

Vibrancy (V) is the quality and intensity of sound (and emotional energy i suppose). it is connected with the singing output and the space in which it is contained. Singing output (SO) varies directly with vibrancy whereas space, generally, varies inversely. When space is held constant, and as SO increases so does V. When SO is held constant and space grows then V decreases. To create the most vibrancy it is useful to get many people in not much space. At some point, though, the gains peter out because people get claustrophobic or otherwise overwhelmed, but that is a much less common challenge than having too much space.

Inclusiveness has to do with how easily new folks can enter the system and feel comfortable. If the congregation is oriented towards the only entrance and one enters though it, the experience will usually be highly uncomfortable due to feeling like everyone is looking at you. This might cause some folks to be set on edge and diminish from their experience. If a person can't find a prayer book due to the layout and hasn't brought one, this too is likely to cause discomfort. If a person doesn't feel part of the community, of course, this is at odds with this value.

Ease of Movement (EoM) is important so that folks can go to the bathroom, choose a new davening location, or move for any other reason without causing an undue disturbance on others. Much EoM is preferable for the non-mover as s/he is less likely to be disturbed and it is also good for the person who wishes to move as they can go where they want without worrying about the impacts to others. Too much EoM can impact Vibrancy as it requires dissipating people and their energy.

Intimacy is directly at odds with Anonymity. Some communities value a communal feel where those gathered to pray can exchange smiles with there brothers and sisters in the community. Other prayer groups prefer a model where one needn't be concerned with those sorts of connection and can come and go without needing to engage directly with other folks. This situation makes it easier to focus on one's own sense of spirituality according to this model.

Lastly the idea of al tifrosh min hatzibur (do not separate yourself from the community) is very important to thinking about where the leader should be.

----

Now on to actually putting some chairs out.

On The Location of Chairs and Aisles:

Single-Direction SDA Seating

In this model the seats are setup to all face the same way. I generally set them up with an aisle down the center. It is a bad idea for EoM reasons to have long rows without aisles. Though if you set up too many aisles it impacts Vibrancy by reducing the density of daveners. I find the magic number is 7: try to avoid having more than 7 chairs without an aisle. when i follow this guideline, it means that no one is more than three people away from an aisle, and most people are less. Where exactly you put the aisles is dependent on how wide your space is.

For Inclusiveness reasons, it is important to avoid having the room oriented in the direction of the main door. It may seem obvious, but it is a very awkward experience to walk into a room of people praying and to feel as though everyone's eyes are on you. If you use a Circle Approach, then this is a non-issue as no more than a third of people can be facing any given direction. Sometimes the spaces we all use have multiple entrances. If this is the case, it is fine to have a door on the wall towards which everyone is oriented. However, it is wise to route people to an alternate door. In addition to their own embarrassment, having people stream into the front of the room is problematic insofar as it is distracting to the folks who are already in the room.

Traditionally, Jewish prayer is oriented eastward. [Of course, the word oriented comes from the orientum /orins, , latin for east]. This is a nice starting point to figure out how to design your space in the room. I have no expertise on the halachic or historic origins of that tradition though it seems there is some flexibility built in when the Mishnah discusses it initially. Generally you can accomplish the outcome where you face east but don't have people enter right in front.

Figuring out where the davening facilitator (Shaliah tzibur--Sh"Tz) should stand in this setup is a tough challenge with no easy answer. If the leader stands in front of the front row, at the center of the room, facing the same direction as the congregation (back to congregation), than it is difficult for the leader to easily discern the reaction of the community and more challenging for the community to pick up on subtle changes in tempo or volume or even tune switches put forth by the Sh"Tz. If the Sh"Tz stands in the front, at the center, but faces the congregation (as in many synagogues) then we have issues with ATMH, as we've created a separation from the community underscoring a difference between the leader and the community. My limited knowledge and experience with the sefardi world leads me to believe they have another common traditional setup which involves a leader in the middle of the room. perhaps our friend ChorusofApes will tell us more about these possibilities. Needless to say, in the single direction seating approach the Sh"Tz can setup in the middle of the room either in a seat or at a shtender (lecturn) in the main aisle.

There are a few important caveats on setting the leader up in the middle of the room facing the same direction as the congregation. If you have a shtender, do not initially put it in the middle!! There is a bizarre rule of human behavior which dictates that in any SDA davening setting no one will sit in front of the Sh"Tz. If you setup three rows back, the front two rows will be empty. It is much better to put the shtender in the front of the room and then move it back once the seats have been filled in. This way, inertia will keep the front rows occupied.

A few additional thoughts on SDA Seating:

Prayer books should be placed by the door where most people enter. If there are multiple doors where people enter, prayer books should be placed at all locations.
It is highly advisable to have a person (greeter) seated by the most trafficed entrance. That person should say hello, answer any questions and give folks entering a prayer book turned to the correct page (perhaps even the one they have been using).
Before services start it is good to try to get folks to move forward to seats closer to the front as later arrivals will feel awkwardly about moving there during the services as they will feel all eyes are upon them. General announcement are almost always ineffective for accomplishing this goal. Speaking to individual community members is likely to be more successful.
Place rows closer together than seems intuitive. you only need ~18" between the front of one seat and the back of the one in front of it. The person's head will as a result be more like 3' from the other persons head. This will make more sense when you try it out. Actually sit in the chair to figure out if it is too cramped. Putting rows too far away will impact Vibrancy. Any closer than 14" is tough for EoM.

CA Seating

When the community uses Circle seating many principles from SDA can still be used:

Prayer books by all entrances.
Greeter is great.
Moving folks who arrive early further towards the middle.
The aisles are a bit more complicated but the same rule of 7 should still work.

There are many differences:

The Sh"Tz can sit close to the middle of the circle and avoid the challenges in determining where an SDA leader should positions herself.
You don't need to worry as much about where people enter the room.

It is critical to have a minimum of deadspace in the middle of the most central of the circles (which should never be called the "Inner Circle" for al tifrosh min hatzibur reasons). This is very important. Make the circle artificially small or vibrancy will take a nosedive. If you want to have a circle of people sitting on the floor in the middle, you might wish to only fill in 270 degrees or some of the circle to make it easy for them to get the the middle and have it not feel claustrophobic. It is very important if you leave a lot of space for people sitting in the middle to very actively insure that the space is filled. This is very hard to do and if you aren't comfortable with strongly encouraging folks early on the actually fill in the middle you are better off making the middle circle our of chairs. I find 6 works well. Make sure there are at least a couple strong daveners directly adjacent to the Sh"Tz (i suppose this is also the case with SDA seating).

Conclusions:

I hope these thoughts have been helpful, i hope to update them at some point. Please use comments to ask questions, propose alternatives, and comment in any other ways but I especially encourage us to work together towards identifying some best practices.

Finding out Who Might Win in November

2008-03-14T10:10:00.003-04:00

I just read this (h/t politicalwire):

Sen. Barack Obama "is attempting to crack open Pennsylvania’s closed party primary, initiating a program to flip the registrations of independent and Republican voters to Democrat," according to The Politico.

"The Pennsylvania strategy is aimed at giving Obama a head start by expanding the rolls by tens of thousands of voters ahead of the April 22 election."

If he can successfully convince a decent number of Republicans to switch that would auger very well for his chances to win in November. To get Republican and Indy folks to register Democrat would presumably involve attacking McCain (good). If this works, superdelegates could, and should, take notice.

Wow. Keith Olbermann is tough.

2008-03-13T10:39:00.003-04:00

I tend to think Keith Olbermann is the best news guy on TV. I don't watch cable news much but it is littered with folks who parrot the conventional wisdom and repeat talking points uncritically. Olbermann makes it his business to analyze and, when he thinks it necessary, criticize and does it with a progressive bent.

A couple years back he, channeling Edward R. Morrow, started making "special comments."
They began as a way to draw attention to particularly heinous acts of the Bush administration. He always closes with Good Night, and Good Luck. Last night, for the first time he took aim at a Democrat, HRC for her campaigns lack of substantial distancing from Ferraro. It is more complicated and brilliant. Definitely watch it.

Wow. Watch this.

Clinton Strategy Doing Nasty Things to the Party

2008-03-12T10:05:00.002-04:00

When the Clintons started race-baiting in South Carolina it drove Blacks to Obama and many whites found it distasteful and also went to Obama. He routed her setting up for a Super Tuesday where he exceeded poll numbers and caught her campaign off guard. She never really had time to recalibrate and got trounced for 11 straight contests. When the end was in sight she tweaked the campaign. The new tactics:

Saying McCain is strong on defense and Obama isn't
Using subtly racially-charged TV ads
Insisting that Obama would make a good VP
Campaign claimed Obama has gotten where he is because he is black (an affirmative action case, etc). Ferraro, to the best of my knowledge, is still a national campaign co-chair and a fundraiser.

The net impact of these various exceedingly nasty attacks--only the third of which I think belongs in a campaign of any sort and none of which belongs in an honorable or inspiring campaign--is to begin an intolerable splintering of our party that may elect McCain.

Race was the main decisive factor in Mississippi (welcome to 1964):

So Barack Obama seems to have won Mississippi handily... per the exits polls (thanks CBS News, as always) the racial demographics are pretty stunning when race is the order of the day: Clinton wins whites 70 to 30; Obama wins blacks 90 to 10; the electorate split roughly 50-50. (Clinton wins white men and white men by roughly 70% and 74% respectively).

He continues:

Obama voters by and large would NOT be satisfied (55%) with Clinton as their nominee, while 7 and ten Clinton voters would NOT be satisfied (72%) with Obama as theirs.

As long as HRC's campaign was merely nasty and hurting her no one in the party had any obligation to step in. Now that her campaign is substantially undermining Democratic chances in November, Democrats who have been on the sideline have no choice if they wish to appoint the next Supreme Court Justice, hold corrupt contractors accountable, or make Justice about justice. No choice. None. They must individually or collectively take HRC to the woodshed, tell her that this nastiness is unacceptable and that if she does not end it immediately and start healing the party they will support Obama en masse and end her candidacy. I can think of no other way to save the party from the divisive, hurtful, self-obsessed rhetoric the Clintons seem unavoidably attracted to. If Hillary wins gracefully, of course, I will support her. If she loses but, in so doing, undermines Obama to such a degree that he loses or loses his mandate, I doubt I will ever forgive her.

A Big-Time Jewish Pol in Big-Time Trouble

2008-03-10T15:01:00.003-04:00

The details are still coming in but Elliot Spitzer the Governor of New York has been implicated in a prostitution scandal. He rose through the system by fighting corruption, criminal syndicates, fraud, and corporate misconduct. I expect unless the NYTimes allegations are false he will be forced out of office. He was an up-and-comer. Until 2:00 PM today he may have been the most likely Jew to become a major presidential candidate in '12 or '16.

Gov. Eliot Spitzer has informed his most senior administration officials that he had been involved in a prostitution ring, an administration official said this morning.

A response to 3am

2008-03-10T11:12:00.002-04:00

I haven't read a full or convincing Obama counter-punch on HRC's 3AM phone ringing ad.

How about this:

HRC has had two red phone moments in her career.

She failed to read the National Intelligence Estimate and then said let's go to war with Iraq.
She failed to read the National Intelligence Estimate and then said let's go to war with Iran.
If that call comes at 3AM is she really any better than an answering machine that says send someone else's kids to war?

If you really want to get nasty point out that her father never left the US during WWII and chose a station at Great Lakes Navy Base, then her husband did one better and dodged the draft. No wonder she is always in favor of war, it's never her people who die.

A Vonnegut Story

2008-03-04T13:02:00.001-05:00

John Bogle invented the Index Fund and is one of my financial heroes. He relates the following anecdote:

At a party given by a billionaire on Shelter Island, the late Kurt Vonnegut informs his pal, the author Joseph Heller, that their host, a hedge fund manager, had made more money in a single day than Heller had earned from his wildly popular novel Catch 22 over its whole history. Heller responds, “Yes, but I have something he will never have . . . Enough.”

Perfect. I have nothing to add.

Voting Day

2008-02-11T17:56:00.000-05:00

This morning I went to the local library's musty basement and voted. All the prognosticators, the pundits, bloggers, and jokers will have their morning coffee and I, along with my brothers and sisters in the District, help decide who will be the next President of the United States. Our decision will lead to some living and others dying, some succeeding and others being barred from success. Though we joke and debate, kibbitz and trade thoughts for months, it is time to put that behind us and exercise our greatest responsibility as citizens, to vote. Wish us luck. I hope i made the right choice.

Here is a link to a voting prayer written by David Seidenberg. Use it in good health. May we all make wise choices and bring peace, prosperity, and humility to our republic. If we do, we can be proud again.

Endorsement Roundup #2

2008-02-04T09:11:00.000-05:00

I forgot two major endorsements last time I posted and there has been a new one since then. Here we go:

The Nation: Christopher Hayes does an excellent job at looking at real differences among HRC and BHO's advisers and how their candidacies will impact the electorate and electoral outcomes. He thinks that BHO will be better for building the Party and for winning contested offices nation-wide.
Maria Shriver: This has been dominating the early week news cycle in CA. She is the state's first lady and a Kennedy. For some reason the media seems to care a lot about the endorsements of Kennedys who aren't Teddy or Patrick. I wonder if her being married to Arnold will help with swing voters.
Eli: Though it's garnering less national news than it should I found the reasoning cogent and what it lacks in impact it makes up for in astuteness. After talking about HRC going negative/divisive he adds this:
As for the merely political, I think Obama is expanding the party base in ways Clinton simply can't. People who vote Democratic in one election are more likely to vote Democratic again. That matters. Obama is also a more effective campaigner and can help Democratic candidates in swing states. And the difference between 55 Democratic votes in the Senate and 51 Democratic votes is larger than any policy difference between Clinton and Obama. I also fear that the Clintons will unify the Republican base and hurt Democratic prospects. We have got to keep Congress blue.

And of course there is Hulk Hogan's Obama endorsement, brother. This naturally brings up the questions, "has Yokozuna weighed in? How about The Undertaker".

Lastly, I asked an elderly family member about her preference. She said, I already voted in my primary. I chose that President's wife lady. I guess that's a nod for HRC.

A Few Big Endorsements

2008-02-01T15:20:00.000-05:00

Obama has picked up a lot of endorsements lately. Here are a few biggies:

Teddy Kennedy: this is huge. It helps liberals get behind Obama and along with the endorsements of Patrick and Caroline (of nytimes editorial fame) cements the new narrative that Obama is inspiring in the JFK mold.
SEIU-CA: SEIU has deep pockets and lots of members in CA. There are 600-650,000 members in that state alone. Campaign finance laws don't constrain their right to communicate with their members. Expect a lot of money to be spent on internal GOTV.
Move-On: they have 3.2M members but it's not clear to me whether the negative publicity trumps the power of their endorsement. It might help convince conservatives to stay away from BHO buy does it convince liberals to flock to him. I sure hope it helps with the latter.
Paul Volcker: This is huge. It adds economic cred to the BHO campaign. He needs to show comeptence in what shapes up to be, in part, an "it's the economy stupid" election. Volcker served Carter and Reagan as Fed Chair. He is behind only Greenspan in this field given that Bernanke can't endorse.
El Piolin: Thought not quite and endorsement this important Latino radio host had Kennedy spiel on Obama for 20 minutes on his show the week before super tuesday.

A lot of these endorsements leverage each other. For instance, Piolin combines with Kennedy, and SEIU CA to help influence SW Latinos to vote BHO. That is a huge demographic and there are your 3-points-of-contact.

HRC has shored up her "i'm ready" cred. Obama hasn't yet. Endorsements of major pols help him tremendously with the assertion that he is ready. Volcker should help accross the board. Kennedy should help with liberals in addition to young folks, baby boomers, and Latinos. It's been a very big week for Obama.

Obama v. HRC--On Rhetoric

2008-01-30T14:20:00.000-05:00

Perhaps the most striking difference between HRC and BHO is the language they use in their campaigns. Obama is a first person plural guy and HRC is a first person singular gal. He is into WE, she is into I.

For example, their comments on Edwards leaving the race:

Sen. Barack Obama issued this statement about John Edwards ending his presidential campaign:

“John Edwards has spent a lifetime fighting to give voice to the voiceless and hope to the struggling, even when it wasn’t popular to do or covered in the news. At a time when our politics is too focused on who’s up and who’s down, he made a nation focus again on who matters – the New Orleans child without a home, the West Virginia miner without a job, the families who live in that other America that is not seen or heard or talked about by our leaders in Washington.

"John and Elizabeth Edwards have always believed deeply that we can change this – that two Americans can become one, and that our country can rally around this common purpose. So while his campaign may end today, the cause of their lives endures for all of us who still believe that we can achieve that dream of one America."

Obama's first paragraph is about JE and his crusade. It is moving and beautiful. It's vaguely reminiscent of a lefty song from the 1940s of the sort that Woody Guthrie penned. The second paragraph is about what WE can do to make the message a reality.

HRC had this to say:

"Well, Sen. Edwards is a friend of mine, he was a colleague in the Senate, and I have the highest regard for him, and I’m really admiring of what he has done to make sure that poverty was on the agenda here in America. He encouraged all of us in his passion and advocacy, and I hope he will continue that work because it is really important that we stay focused on what we’re going to do to help people."

"You know, I’m out here talking about making the economy work for everybody. And it needs to work for the middle class, working people, it needs to give a life line to poor people like we did in the 1990s, so in any way that I can be part of this effort to try to target poverty I am going to be."

Unlike Obama, HRC starts by mentioning Edwards in relation to herself rather than his ideas. Then she mentions poverty in a checklist kinda way. She doesn't reiterate the theme or help us visualize it. Her second pargraph is about what she hoping to do rather than what we can do together.

Edwards Signs Off

2008-01-30T11:15:00.000-05:00

Today John Edwards will exit the presidential race. He will announce his leaving the race the way he announced his candidacy, in New Orleans speaking about poverty. Edwards ran a campaign about what America could be and one that relentlessly focused on individual Americans and issues.
He moved Obama and Hillary left on Iraq, towards withdrawal and forced a debate on comprehensive health care. He was the first visible mainstream politician to highlight the role corporations and special interests have played in corrupting government. For all these reasons we were lucky to have him and I am sad to see him leave the race.

It doesn't make much gut-level sense for him to have left. He has public funding so staying in wouldn't entail more fundraising. He is on the ballots so he may still get votes. Absentee voters already have voted for him. He certainly would have gotten Super Tuesday delegates and he has little political future in NC in the next few years.

Why, then, did he drop out? A few possibilities:

There was a backroom deal--one of the other candidates (probably HRC) promised him a prize if he dropped out pre-Super-Tuesday.
The internal polls for ST show him getting a very marginal result and would undermine the power of his endorsement.
He thinks this will help him in the job-in-the-administration sweepstakes

What jobs make sense for him in a dem administration?

VP--Unlikely but he was good in 2004
Attorney General--He was a career attorney and this would be his best venue for holding corporations accountable.
Sec. of Labor--This is an underpowered position but Labor is friendly towards him and he them. Oh, and what else was he going to do 2008-12?
Supreme Court Justice Nominee--This is the ultimate prize. Again, as a career attorney he isn't much different than Chief Justice Roberts who was only a judge for a couple years.

In conclusion, though he was over-rehearsed and slightly too pathos-driven for my taste he brought something important to American politics and I am genuinely sad to see him go.

UPDATE: I just saw this post on Obama's new tack.

From The Huffington Post, excerpts from speech Obama will give in Denver today:

It's time for new leadership that understands that the way to win a debate with John McCain is not by nominating someone who agreed with him on voting for the war in Iraq; who agreed with him in voting to give George Bush the benefit of the doubt on Iran; who agrees with him in embracing the Bush-Cheney policy of not talking to leaders we don't like; and who actually differed with him by arguing for exceptions for torture before changing positions when the politics of the moment changed. [...]
We need to offer the American people a clear contrast on national security, and when I am the nominee of the Democratic Party, that's exactly what I will do. Talking tough and tallying up your years in Washington is no substitute for judgment, and courage, and clear plans. It's not enough to say you'll be ready from Day One - you have to be right from Day One.

Wow. It's going to be a great debate thursday.

2008-01-14T16:31:00.010-05:00

pictures for wedding website

A Wild Race

2008-01-09T11:32:00.000-05:00

HRC won last night. She beat Obama by 3% (7,500 votes) in NH. Obama won Iowa by 7% (16,500 votes). The delegate count is now Obama (25), HRC (24), and Edwards (18).

A few thoughts:

A close race is good for democracy. It will highlight issues of concern and raise awareness.
The whiteness of Iowa and NH is blinding. Considering about 20% of democrats are African-American, that there were two few non-whites to register on the exit polls in NH is staggering.
For some reason HRC coming from tremendous wealth, power, and prestige and marrying a Rhodes Scholar Yale Law-type turned president just makes her uberinsiderish campaign seem totally unhistorical. Not necessarily bad, perhaps we need someone with a masterful understanding of Washington who can manipulate the system to good ends. In contrast Obama, who became a community organizer after law school seems extremely historical and fresh.
If HRC and Obama stay neck-in-neck we may see Edwards' pledged delegates decide the winner. That would be extremely dramatic but not necessarily democratic. Where is instant runoff voting when we need it.

Huckabee on Canada's National Igloo

2008-01-07T14:20:00.000-05:00

Watch all the way to the end. Priceless.

He also apologized on behalf of America to the people of Pakistan for the Bhutto assassination and told the press he didn't read the intelligence assessment on Iran because he was too busy.

Obama Has Arrived

2008-01-04T09:42:00.000-05:00

In light of the exciting news out of Iowa, a few thoughts on Obama:

Pro

Brings New People Into Politics (about 40% of his supporters were first time caucusers in Iowa)

Could, like JFK and Reagan before him, articulate a new vision for politics and America and in so doing attract a generation of people to his party.

Con

The main fight the next president has won't be over iraq, healthcare, or farm subsidies, those are just skirmishes, it will be against special interests for the soul of democracy. Obama doesn't seem to understand or be willing to articulate the issues in that fight. Edwards' speech last night perfectly hit those points. Obama said some nice things, but basically fluff. It is possible that Obama is posturing for election and then will unleash holy hell on the obstructionist healthcare industry but somehow i doubt it.

2007-12-20T10:57:00.000-05:00

I looked at the InTrade market for John Edwards winning the Dem Primary futures and they are trading at about 5.1. If he wins the primary, i think, the contracts would be worth $100 each. I think he must have at least a 5% chance. I'd think 10:1 is more like it.

Following the wager on (not yet) Senator Jim Webb in 2006 that yielded me some sweet pants, I am considering buying some Edwards futures for fun.

Eagles Win

2007-12-17T12:12:00.001-05:00

Wow, the Eagles just hit the Cowboys with a major roadblock. I only saw the last three quarters but, wow, what a three quarters it was. They held the Cowboys to 6 point, 24 less than their normal average. With three sacks, 7 passes defended, 3 interceptions, and several forced fumbles and tackles for a loss, the eagles defense made the Cowboys O look amateurish. Phialdelphia's offense didn't look crisp, but they put up a TD and FG. Westbrook stopped short of TD in the open field in the last minute to ice the game. Practically, we scored 2 TDs and beat them 17-6.

The Eagles D played well against the Patriots, slammed the 'Boys, and looks very good. It has a young linebacker corps, several young defensive lineman and will probably add a pair of young safeties to replace an aging, but still intense Dawkins. They will probably cut Kearse and maybe Howard in the offseason freeing dollars for another DE or possibly a game-breaking WR or TE. Kearse and Howard are making elite starter money and not getting on the field much, so this is any easy decision if trades don't work out.

With an increasingly spry McNabb fully recovered from his knee injury and another weapon this team could be ready to return to the show. Wow. I am feeling much better now.

Yes I Can, No I Kant

2007-12-11T12:31:00.000-05:00

these are the sort of issues candidates don't address enough:

h/t ari weisbrd [sic]

The Results Are in: Take II

2007-12-06T17:15:00.000-05:00

Thanks to BZ for sharing his initial thoughts on the recent "Emergent" community study.

I'll start by sharing two surprises.

Surprise 1: Lots of the Communities are in Places Other than NY or LA

Only 40% of communities in the study were in NY or CA. According to the 2006 Jewish Year Book about 2.8M of the US's 6.5M Jews (43%) live in NY or CA. The numbers don't quite match because the yearbook numbers aren't by city, but it is clear that the popular myth that independent minyanim only exist in NYC is unfounded.

Surprise 2: They Used the Phrase Had Romance With a Non-Jew.

More seriously, I found several aspects of the love life questions surprising.

2/3 have used Jewish Dating Services. Wow. It isn't clear whether they restricted this number to people who are actively dating, so a higher percentage of those dating may be using JDate and related programs. That's amazing. 2/3 of folks use these services. I wonder what implications this has for social networking sites like the kind Mobius has been envisioning. Clearly there is a demand and it is way bigger than I thought.

While I am on the Romance section of the survey check this out:

Dated only Jews in the Past Year:
IndyMinyans: 76%
Rabbi-Led Emergents: 59%
Alt Emergents: 71%
ACBP Syn. Members: 32%

"Had Romance with a Non-Jew"
IndyM: 58%
Rabbi-Led Emer: 78%
Alt Emer: 79%
ACBP Syn. Members: 59%

I have to assume that the romance with a non-jew numbers are lifetime stats otherwise there would be an astounding rather than very high rate of date jewish, schtup non-jewish. I have a nearly Clintonian level of interest in knowing what precisely "Had Romance with a Non-Jew" means.

It seems that folks are, at least in part, joining our communities to find love. I wonder how finding it impacts their invovlement. Speaking very personally, I remain as involved in TLS as i was while single and imagine that many others have as well. In fact, my partner has joined the community and i imagine others have brought dear friends and lovers into the scene. The old joke used to say that Goldberg comes to shul to talk to God and that Cohen comes to shul to talk to Goldberg. That dynamic seems alive and well and strengthened by Stein who comes to talk and or date Goldberg or Cohen and may end up talking to God.

Lastly, it isn't surprising that once the study restricted responses to unaffiliated groups it then shows high rates of movement from children of affiliated synagogues to young adults who eschew those labels.

Were i designing the study i think I'd have studied spiritual communities on the basis of more important structural similarities like urban/suburban/exurban population, self-rated degree of political or social justice themes in services, and figured out some method for evaluating lay-orientation and involvement in prayer.

For instance, a neat new spiritual community has started in West Philadelphia. A neighborhood better known for its Fresh Prince tie-in than Jewish community, Kol Tzedek was started by a progressive young committed core of folks. It now meets more frequently and has been blessed with impressive growth. i davened there for Kol Nidre and found it very meaningful. Why is that more or less emergent/cool than Ikar in LA. The main difference is that Kol Tzedek is Reconstructionist Affiliated (to their credit) and Ikar is not affiliated with any movement.

I am not quite sure why they laid out the restrictions they did. Founded after 1996. Why 1996? Why include Rabbi-led emergents. Why exclude similar affiliated groups? It seems like these choices were made strategically but not particularly transparently.

In conclusion, like BZ, I want to thank the folks studying this set of communities, say that I am eager to see the community-level data and that the future results are eagerly anticipated. I am especially curious to see the information on how folks get into the communities, how involvement has changed over time, domestic political beliefs, and religious/theological/ideological approaches of those in the study.

A Hannukkah Miracle or How 1065 People Got Mosquito Nets From People They'd Never Met

2007-12-06T10:16:00.000-05:00

You may remember that several months ago I posted on the Sukkathon to Fight Malaria, a project to provide malaria nets to people who badly needed them in Mali. I am heartened to report that 13 communities worldwide took up the call to help the cause and that this hannukkah:

This past weekend, the Project Muso team distributed 355 extra-large, high quality, insecticide treated, three-person bednets in the communities of Yirimadjo, Mali—nets raised through the Sukkathon to Fight Malaria. Thanks to the efforts of Jewish communities in 13 different cities around the world organizing the Sukkathon, there are now spaces for more than one thousand people to sleep protected from malaria infection. The Project Muso team distributed these nets to children five and under and pregnant women—those who are most vulnerable to malaria infection.

Mazal tov to all who helped. Let's make next year bigger yet.

Always Be Yourself

2007-12-03T11:24:00.000-05:00

While i was home my dad mentioned that he has joined facebook. i guess it makes sense since he teaches at a college. I just searched for him, by full name,in order to friend him. He is the only person in the US, and probably the world with his name and to my surpsise two people turned up. i clicked on the other one, not recognizing the name and saw she had one of my father's quotes.

"Always be yourself, unless you're an A******, then be someone else." DT quoting another rabbi.

He says that every so often, except he always says "schmuck" but that's minor. It was funny to see it randomly. Next step, figure out who the facebook woman is.

zach

Supporting the Screen Writers

2007-11-07T15:45:00.000-05:00

Here is the screen writers' explanation of a key issue in their strike:

Doc Doc Goose

2007-11-06T22:15:00.000-05:00

I went to an allergist today.
He diagnosed me as Jewish.

Overheard in DC or Random Moments in Nationalism and Hipsters

2007-10-24T18:51:00.002-04:00

I was walking near my office earlier this week and overheard a conversation between two bikers. Both were riding fixed gear bikes and wearing vintage hats. One of the two bikers had on a keffiyeh with the PLO/Arafat keffiyeh worn as a scarf.

This is what i heard:

keffiyeh guy: so, lunch?
non-nationalist symbolism guy: yeah let's grab falafel.
kg: [several second pause] falafel, what's falafel?
nnsg: you know, it's, like, made of chick peas. it's really fuckin' good.
kg: whatever man. i'm always up for some new shit.

thank god for urban outfitters and amateurish hipsters. a winning combination if ever there was one.

in related food news, today i got some takeout and they threw in a fortune cookie. I got back to work and ate at my desk while trying to hit a deadline. the fortune:

"there is a true and sincere friendship between you both."

Me and my computer? In bed?

Bad Night at Poker

2007-10-19T08:53:00.000-04:00

One of my favorite features of my life in DC is a poker game i play with a rag-tag group of buddies roughly once a week. I have learned a lot about playing in that time but still have an enormous amount to understand. For instance, I got nailed on a big hand last night. We were playing Texas Hold-Em and three players remained. J had about $30, I about $15 and G about $15.

G was small blind ($.5) and J was big ($1). I had pocket Jacks. I raised three dollars. G called and J folded. The flop came Jd, 7c, 4h. I raised $10. G called. G had Qd 8d i think. The turn was a diamond (10d maybe) and I went all in. I thought either he had a high pocket pair or two pairs. I couldn't imagine he would have bet $10 into a pot of $17.50 on a three-to-a-flush with an overcard. Boy was i wrong. When I went all in he quickly called. I liked my odds. Though the turn improved his hand a lot, i still would win unless he made a flush. There were 9 remaining diamonds which would make that flush and cards overall 44 (52-2 of mine-2 of his-4 of the boards). The A, K, 9, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, and 2 of D remained in the deck. If the A, K, 9, 6, 5, 3 or 2 hit, G would win. If any non diamond hit i would win. If the 7 or 4 of diamonds hit he'd have a flush but the board would pair and i'd have a full house. He really had 7 outs but 37 cards (44-7) that would lose. Of course, he hit the non full-house flush and took my money. Arrggghhh.

PS: Poker is a bad form of investment unless you are very very good at it. I certainly am not. I budget it like an entertainment expense and expect to lose money. It's cheaper than a lot of restaurants and more fun. that's why i play. when i win, that's gravy.

Investment and Justice

2007-10-17T13:55:00.001-04:00

A few days ago I wrote about investment for folks in the 20-40 range.

Conspicuously absent from that post was a broad discussion of how ethical considerations ought to impact investment decisions.

There are a few basic approaches to Socially Responsible Investing (SRI):

Negative Screening: this approach removes companies that the investor thinks are problematic. You might, for instance, eschew oil, military, or tobacco companies, any company that didn't offer domestic partner benefits, or any company doing business in Djibouti. Calvert offers a popular index fund with negative screens. The Social Investment Forum has more info here. Negative screening is premised on the hope that non-investment in bad companies will drive down their shareprices and incent better behavior.
Best of Class Investing: this approach involves investors investing in companies which are least bad in bad classes with the goal of rewarding less bad behavior and thereby punishing worst behavior. You might for instance avoid Exxon and its efforts designed to discredit climate change research and instead choose to invest in Beyond Petroleum who has more investment in alternative energy.
Active Ownership: In this approach you make investment decisions solely on the basis of financial calculus and business judgment. You use your portfolio to influence major firms through shareholder activism of various sorts like proxy proposals, voting, and letter writing.

Personally, I think Active Ownership is the most potent ethical investing approach. It creates the most momentum towards just outcomes and should have the best investment returns.

Personally, I invest with conventional financial firms and use index funds where possible as i described earlier. As my portfolio grows i expect to allocate 1-3% of it to bellow market investment activities designed to produce social returns such as:

investing in community redevelopment organizations who offer targeted loans to businesses and individuals designed to create desirable urban outcomes.
investing in global micro lending.

Additionally I commit to dispersing 10% (or more) of my post-tax income to justice creating activities. You can read more about my approach to tithing and what i did last year here.

Frankly, in one's 20s and much of one's 30s the amount in retirement savings accounts will be modest. The work of our hands is much more substantial in actually impacting the world than anything we do with our money. It is important to concentrate on the question of whether our day job makes a difference. Are we teaching a new generation of folks? Helping create political change? Economic change? Are we bringing people joy? Helping people learn? Creating culture? Is the world getting better because of what we do?

If the answer is no, we aren't making much of a difference in our days, that is an important problem to fix. Get in the habit of giving now. I recommend tithing highly. Eventually when you have saved lots of money and 1-3% is a sizeable sum in real dollars, start using those dollars towards justice investment.

If you are very excited about negative screening you can sacrifice 1-2% or so of returns to use Calvert's more expensive alternative to an S&P 500 index fund. If you earned a 11.2% return over 40 years as the S&P has, after 40 years you'd turn $1 into about $83. If on the other hand you earned 9.7% (1.5% less) in a negatively screened fund your $1 would turn into $37 after 40 years of compounding. Little differences in fees and returns make extraordinary differences in the long term. if there was a good negatively screened fund that mimicked the funds i recommended from vanguard at similar fees I'd recommend them. I don't think such funds exist and tend to think that negative screening makes at best a marginal impact on the companies invested and not invested in. A marginal social impact is a poor reason to accept half the return over 40 years.

Nietzsche contest

2007-10-15T17:45:00.000-04:00

Here is my entry in the limerick contest for Nietzsche's birthday:

There once was a Prussian philologist,
who went on to critique religious sophists,
though he claimed god was dead
the proclamation turned on its head,
and poor Nietzsche's mind turned soft as he lost it.

Financial Advice for Folks in Their 20s and 30s in 10 Easy Questions

2007-10-11T10:35:00.002-04:00

I recently switched jobs and now am doing investment education for a big US union. Since i took the job (and before) people have been asking me lots of questions about how to invest, different kinds of investments, retirement, etc. I hope the post below will offers some simple and useful guidance to folks. I am, of course, happy to provide more specific answers and update the post to reflect concerns left out--just make comments, i'll be reading them actively. This is a draft and I hope that through your recommendations it will get substantially better over time. Dig in.

1) Why Is Advice Different For People In Their 20s and 30s?

I am primarily referring to folks who are working and not anticipating retiring in the next 30-40 years. The length of time that money will be invested impacts substantially how it should be invested. Someone who was 40 and anticipate working until age 72, would probably find this information useful, perhaps even if they planned to retire at age 62.

2) What If I Have Lots of Debt?

If you have credit card debt, it multiplies at an astonishing rate. Do whatever you can to eliminate it as soon as possible. If you need to, move in with your parents and get it axed, don't eat out again until it's gone. Come up with a strategy to avoid carrying a credit card balance. Many credit cards trick you into making "minimum payments". These payments allow your debt to grow and compound (sometimes at a rate of 20% or more). The bank is getting more than a 20% return and you are paying them for it. Square things with them immediately.

If you have student loans, however, since they tend to charge less interest you don't have to take as aggressive approaches as with credit card debt. You might be able to invest less as you pay them off but the money you invest will outperform the rate you have to pay for student loans.

3) Do You Have Some Secrets Which Will Enable Me To Amass great Riches?

Not really. If you eventually want to stop working (retire) then sometime before that point you must start spending less money than you earn (saving). Not saving likely leads to no retirement.
When asked about the most important invention of the 19th century, Einstein is often said to have given it significant thought and then replied compound interest.

Insofar as there is a secret to retirement savings it is called the power of compounding interest. Let's say you invested $1 today and received a 10% per year return. That return is somewhat less than the 11.86% average annual return of the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) over the last twenty years. After one year that $1 will be worth $1.10. The next year you would have $1.21 (because you received interest on last years interest). After five years the dollar would have turned into $1.61, after 10 years--$2.59, 20--$6.73, 30--$17.45, and after 40 years, that original dollar would be worth $45.26. From year 39 to 40 the $1 initial investment yielded $4.12 in annual interest.

Now imagine that instead of investing $1 initially, you invested $1,000 and were 25. At age 65 that money would be worth $45,260.

4) But I'll Be Making More Money When I'm 45. Shouldn't I Just Put Money Away Then?

In our example above you invested $1 at age 25 and ended up with about $45 at age 65. Now, assume you didn't start investing until age 45. You would have needed to invest $6.43 to have the same $45 at the end. Do you really think you will be making 6.43 times as much money in twenty years? At that point you may have several children, mortgage payments etc, to worry about and you'll probably not be making much more than double or triple what you are making now. If you invest 10% of your income every year for retirement starting at age 20 it will be worth a huge amount more than if you invest 30% starting at age 45. Over the course of your life, 10% will be doable. 20% would have you living a rich life in your later years.

5) Where Should I Invest This Money Between Now and When I Retire?

Let me take a second and say something very important. Where exactly you invest isn't nearly important as that you make the decision to invest. You will make a solid decision of where to put your money and, if you are smart, you will pretty much leave it alone. Dr. Dichev, of the UMich B-School studied investors and found that the returns of most investors was less than the markets they invested in. The Wilson Quarterly has a great (brief) writeup of that study:

“Buy and hold” is the mantra of many investment gurus. Rather than try to time the market or pick winners and losers, they say, individual investors should put their money into a representative basket of stocks and forget about it. Good advice, says Ilia D. Dichev, an economist at the University of Michigan’s Stephen M. Ross School of Business. What a pity it’s too simple for most people to follow.
The NASDAQ market, the main crash site of the Internet boom of the 1990s, would have produced handsome returns (9.6 percent annually) for a person who invested in 1973 and did nothing until 2002.
But even committed “passive” investors have a hard time sitting tight. People tend to put more money into stocks when the market soars and pull it out when it turns south. Most wind up buying high and selling low. In order to find out how investors actually fared, Dichev adjusted historical market returns to reflect the flows of money in and out of the market. That juicy 9.6 percent return on the NASDAQ? In fact, investors reaped only 4.3 percent on average. Results were better in other markets. A capitalization-weighted basket of stocks on the New York and American stock exchanges held from 1926 to 2002 returned an average of 9.9 percent annually. Investors who tried to outsmart the market saw an 8.6 percent annual increase.

6) So, Nu? Where should I Invest My Money?

A lot of folks like to pay other people a lot of money to manage their money. This is usually a bad idea. Most folks aren't better than the market and they charge you money for their advice. The Motley Fool has an excellent piece on why Index Funds are better than anything else. Here are
two excerpts:

There's a reason that all these magazines don't tell you how simple mutual fund investing really is. Scientific marketing surveys and focus group testing have determined that magazines with covers that read "Index Funds: Still The Best Choice!!!" every single month really wouldn't sell as well as magazines that promise "Our BRAND NEW 10 Best Mutual Funds To Buy RIGHT NOW!" Sad, but true.

and

During the 1990s, the S&P 500 has provided an annualized return of 17.3%, compared with just 13.9% for the average diversified mutual fund. This 3.4% is explained first by understanding the fact that during the 1990s the S&P 500 (essentially an index of the 500 largest companies in America) has produced returns that are better than the rest of the market....S&P index funds have garnered a lot of attention over the last couple of years for good reason. The Vanguard S&P 500 fund has outperformed over 90% of all domestic equity mutual funds over the past three and five years (and a much higher number if you include bond and international equity funds). But S&P index funds certainly aren't the only index funds -- and in fact may not even be the best.

Basically, it will cost you anywhere from 1-2% to have an actively managed mutual fund. Sometimes even more when sneaky fees are introduced. Vanguard's total US market index fund [Vanguard: VTSMX, ETF: VTI] is an example of a diverse, low-cost option. It will likely outperform 90%+ of other investments and costs only 0.19%. If you want to live a very simple investment life, this is a good choice for your one mutual fund.

7) The Simple One Index Fund Approach Looks Good but What is the Next Step?

Dave Swenson, the guy who manages money for Yale, is generally regarded as a financial super-genius. Here is a post on a great financial blog discussing his recommendation. It is very close to what a smart 20/30-something investor might do.

Here is a modified version suited to a younger investor:

Domestic Equity (42.5 percent): Refers to stocks in U.S.-based companies listed on U.S. exchanges. [Vanguard: VTSMX, ETF: VTI]
Emerging Market Equity (12.5 percent): Refers to stocks from emerging markets around the world, such as Brazil, Russia, India and China. [Vanguard: VEIEX, ETF: VWO]
Foreign Developed Equity (20 percent): Refers to stocks listed on major foreign markets in developed countries, such as the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Japan. [Vanguard: VGTSX, ETF: VEU]
Real Estate Investment Trusts (25 percent): Refers to stocks of companies that invest directly in real estate through ownership of property. [Vanguard: VGSIX, ETF: VNQ]

I have removed Bonds and TIPS and concentrated on equities. Basically, over several decades stocks almost always do better than bonds. If you are nearing retirement or about to buy a house then you need more stability and are willing to lose upside. If you want to maximize money down-the-road, you are better off taking more of a risk. Retirement investments for young folks should be somewhat risky in the short run to make them richer in the long run.

The reason that this system has a few more funds than the one fund solution is to diversify more broadly to make is a safer and more lucrative system. This will cover you much better if foreign companies come to reign supreme in the next few decades.

8) But I want to buy a house?

Generally speaking, real estate doesn't do as well as the market. Here is an excerpt from a Forbes piece on the subject:

Where's a better place to put your money: the stock market or real estate? These days the accepted wisdom (at least at cocktail parties) says to pick real estate. But is the accepted wisdom right?

It is--in the short term. U.S. real estate sale prices increased more than 56% from the beginning of 1999 to the end of 2004, as tracked by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, part of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The S&P 500 index dipped nearly 6% during that same period.

But if you take a longer view--say 25 years--you'll find that the S&P 500 has actually stomped the real estate market, from Boston to Detroit to Dallas. From the start of 1980 to the end of 2004, home sale prices increased 247%. A pretty sweet deal, it would seem. Over the same period, however, the S&P 500 shot up more than 1,000%.

The other big problem with real estate is that it causes a large portion of your assets to be tied up in a single entity. It is very hard to diversify if 90% of your net worth is in a single property as is often the case with young investors. That said, if you are a brilliant real estate investor you may be able to realize short terms gains enough that your share of a nice home is less than renting used to cost. In general though, if rent prices are good, as they are in DC at the moment, the financial incentive to buy is not very good.

However, and it's a big however, there are many non-financial incentives to buy that are worth considering. You might live in a nicer place, you may like the idea of a 3-d investment, you might have help from family members, or you might want to spend money to make your home more attractive and recoil at the idea of paying for your landlord's investment to improve. I am not really in any position to evaluate the power of these non-financial arguments.

Lastly, the reason many buy real estate is that if they borrow money to do it (a mortgage) they interest payments on that borrowed money are tax deductible. Meaning that you don't pay taxes on the portion of your income you use to payoff the interest on your loan. In the early years of a 30 year fixed rather mortgage, for instance, the vast majority of your payment is interest. If you are in a very high tax bracket this break is very advantageous. Most young folks, however, are not in a very high tax bracket and those that are may want to see a tax planner or financial planner to get more personally tailored advice.

9) Okay, back to investing...Should I use a 401k? 403B? IRA? Roth IRA? What are they?

401Ks, Roth IRAs, Traditional IRAs, and 403Bs are four different tax-advantaged retirement accounts. They have several features in common:

All were setup by the IRS to help us save for retirement.
All will lead to us paying less taxes either now or later.

There are also some major differences. 401K and 403B plans are managed by employers. 401Ks are generally in private for profit companies and 403Bs are for public and non-profit firms though i understand that it can be murkier than this. These two plans work similarly. Often your boss will match your contributions up to a certain limit. Make sure you contribute up to that limit. Basically, you are getting an immediate 100% return on your investment. If your $1 is matched then 40 years later instead of being worth $45 your $1 invested will be worth $90. Don't want to miss out on that. Both 401Ks and 403Bs must be funded through payroll deductions. You can't move money from your checking account to that sort of retirement account. Money invested with a 401k/403b is tax deductible now but not later.
If you make $40,000 and you put $5,000 into your 403B you only have $35,000 worth of taxable income. The 403B (or 401K) contribution is tax exempt. IRA's are also tax excempt but aren't managed by your employer.

By contrast, Roth IRAs are not tax deductible in the here-and-now. In exchange for paying taxes now, you don't need to pay taxes when your withdraw the money later. If you are in a low tax bracket now and expect to be in a high tax bracket upon retiring, this is a better choice.

Basically, if your boss will match a contribution to a company plan, that is free money, take it. If not you are likely to be better off with an IRA, Roth IRA or both.

10) Okay, So I Want a Roth or Traditional IRA and Like Your Index Fund Idea, How Do I Do It? How Do The Mechanics Work?

Just about anyone who manages money for individuals will manage your retirement accounts. You want a firm that has lots of good, cheap, index funds and won't charge you to buy or sell their own firms funds.

Personally I like Vanguard. They invented index funds and have a very good selection including the funds i recommended earlier.*

You can open a fund with them at this site.

Conclusion:

There are no tricks or secrets.
Start saving now and save more than you think.
Invest in index funds.
Money multiplies at an amazing rate the longer you put it away for. Start right now! Let the money invest and reinvest as long as possible.
If you push hard to invest enough now, you will have a much easier time later in life. It is probably worth the small sacrifice now.
Would you rather put away $1,000 now out of your income or need to set aside $45,000 out of your income in 40 years.

*I should say here that I have no formal certification and those funds are neither guaranteed to do as well as they have histroically nor are they guaranteed to outperform most funds as they have historically. I believe in this approach and use it myself and am reasonably confident in its simplicity but you should draw your own conclusions.

How do candidates compare in their swing state appeal?

2007-09-25T09:56:00.000-04:00

in general i am very wary of "electability" arguments but it's interesting to see how various Dems compare with the Repubs in swing state this election cycle. This data comes to us from SUSA via Dailykos:

This month, responding to the complaints, SUSA decided to poll other Democrats in key states besides Clinton.

MISSOURI 11 Electoral Votes; 2004 results: Bush 53, Kerry 46

Obama 46 Obama 48 Obama 51 Giuliani 44 Thompson 45 Romney 40

Clinton 45 Clinton 48 Clinton 51 Giuliani 48 Thompson 45 Romney 40

Edwards 47 Edwards 50 Edwards 56 Giuliani 42 Thompson 40 Romney 32

OHIO 20 Electoral Votes; 2004 results: Bush 51, Kerry 49

Obama 39 Obama 42 Obama 45 Giuliani 52 Thompson 50 Romney 46

Clinton 47 Clinton 48 Clinton 52 Giuliani 48 Thompson 47 Romney 42

Edwards 47 Edwards 52 Edwards 56 Giuliani 48 Thompson 43 Romney 36

IOWA 7 Electoral Votes; 2004 results: Bush 50, Kerry 49

Obama 50 Obama 51 Obama 51 Giuliani 42 Thompson 41 Romney 41

Clinton 50 Clinton 50 Clinton 50 Giuliani 42 Thompson 44 Romney 43

Edwards 53 Edwards 54 Edwards 54 Giuliani 39 Thompson 37 Romney 38

NEW MEXICO 5 Electoral Votes; 2004 results: Bush 50, Kerry 49

Obama 46 Obama 52 Obama 55 Giuliani 46 Thompson 41 Romney 36

Clinton 51 Clinton 53 Clinton 54 Giuliani 43 Thompson 42 Romney 39

Edwards 48 Edwards 52 Edwards 54 Giuliani 44 Thompson 37 Romney 34

It was through the electability trap that we got John Kerry so let's not get too excited here but it is very encouraging (shocking!?) to note that the most progressive guy is also the most "electable". Swing Voters seem to find Edwards sharp contrasts with Republicans convincing. I hope that this is a statement about his populism rather than his race/gender. Unfortunately it is not easy to separate those factors out as all the republicans are white men and none of the other leading democratic women, such as Seblius, are running. All this to say that I am drawn to Edwards claim that he is the candidate of change and will stand up and fight special interests. I don't see Obama having the stomach or HRC having the desire to win that fight.

Facebook Birthdays-->Google Calendar

2007-09-19T11:20:00.000-04:00

I have been increasingly moving my life over to google. Is putting all your eggs in one basket a bad idea? Probably. Can you trust a company who is Microsoft's main competition? Unlikely. Why are you doing this then? Unclear.

Google's online calendar is great. It integrates with my e-mail and is accessible on any computer. Now, for the cool part. I just figured out how to automatically get my facebook friend's birthdays entered into my google calendar. Check it out. Pretty sweet, eh? I entered about 500 birthdays in under two minutes. Maybe it is clear why i use so many google products.

Sukkathon to Fight Malaria

2007-09-17T10:30:00.000-04:00

Looking for another fulfilling aspect to add to your sukkot repertoire? You're in luck, because Ari Johnson, who you might know from such projects as Jews in the Woods and Moishe/Kavod House Boston, is organizing a great new initiative combining celebrating sukkot and social action.

Sukkot hearkens back to a time when Jews were harvesting and had substantially less protection from the elements in their lives, an era when natural disasters and disease threatened. In this present day, many Jews no longer feel the insecurity our ancestors did, but we can all help fight disease and help people who must sleep outside in sukkot all year do so more safely.

In Mali, and many other places, due to the heat it is important to sleep where the outside breezes cool people down. However, those same places have ample mosquitos many of which carry malaria. Without nets people die of an alarmingly preventable disease. Ari thought to link our sleeping in sukkot with theirs and the Sukkathon is a project where folks will (safely) sleep in sukkot to raise money to buy mosquito nets for places where so doing is unsafe. Sukkathons being organized in communities in Toronto, Providence, Waltham, Worcester, Newton, New Haven, and Philly thus far, will you be the next to step up?

The Sukkathon to Fight Malaria Each year, more than one million people die of malaria, most of them children under age five living in Sub-Saharan Africa. Malaria is largely preventable and treatable. Insecticide-treated bed nets are one of the most potent life-saving tools we have to prevent the disease. By sleeping under these nets every night, people living in malaria-heavy areas are protected from mosquitoes that carry the disease.

This Sukkot, the Jewish community is mobilizing in solidarity with those who are vulnerable to malaria and cannot afford the tools to protect themselves. In Sub-Saharan Africa, lacking the shelter and security of mosquito-proof housing or even a net to hang over a child's bed can have deadly consequences.

On Sukkot, we eat and sleep in the sukkah in memory of a more fragile time in our own people's history, when we were wandering in the desert, without the shelter and safety of permanent homes. Through the mitzvah of dwelling in the sukkah, we create a living memory and a bond between our own people's legacy and all who live without safe shelter.
The Sukkathon to Fight Malaria is working in partnership with Project Muso Ladamunen, the Project for the Empowered Woman, to raise money for bed nets for pregnant women and young children who are most vulnerable to malaria.

Here’s how you can help:
1. Get sponsors. Set a goal of how many bed nets you will contribute
(each bed net costs just $8). Ask your family, friends, classmates, and coworkers
to sponsor you, and you can even sponsor yourself! Sponsors can
pledge bed nets for each night you sleep in the sukkah, or make a single
donation.
2. Sleep in the sukkah. This is especially fun to do with friends or family.
If you don’t have a sukkah at home, find out about sleeping in a friend’s
sukkah, or in your Hebrew school’s or synagogue’s/temple’s sukkah.
3. Collect pledges. Tell your sponsors how many nights you slept in the
sukkah, and collect donations. Sponsors should make checks out to "Under
the Baobab Tree, Inc.," the 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that runs
Project Muso, with the note "Sukkathon" on the memo line. Please mail
checks to:
Under the Baobab Tree
PO Box 25651
Washington, DC 20027
Donations may also be made by credit card at http://www.projectmuso.org/DonateNow.htm .
All contributions are tax-deductible to the extent provided by law.
Please email sukkathon@gmail.com with any questions.
Thank you!

sheva bruchos in a diner?!

2007-09-12T14:27:00.001-04:00

we nearly got kicked out, but we got through benching and all 7 of the sheva brachot before heading out of the diner on our timetable.

Getting Ready for the Yamim Nora'im

2007-09-10T11:10:00.000-04:00

The High Holidays Changed forever, for me, a few years ago when i spent neilah with a friend and mentor who was fighting cancer. Stefan had taken me on to work at the ACLU while I was in high school and helped me think more systematically about the fight for justice. Still in the prime of life, he had a grim prognosis.

The neilah liturgy, like much of the High Holiday liturgy, talks about gates closing and we plead to be included in the book of life. This had always been very vague for me, but here i was, signing the plaintive melodies with a teacher whose gates were literally closing and for whom one more year of being inscribed in the book of life would be miraculous and unlikely. He was courageous; I was not. Seeing him ask for another year made me question whether I was worthy of one, what i had done the previous year, and what i would do if by some (natural or supernatural) fluke i got another year to live. Every year as I move towards the High Holidays i try to refocus and consider the tough issues of breaking myself down and doing honest repentance. Every year I have trouble, and Stefan helps me figure it out. This year was no different as This past saturday night is the night that ashkenazi jews traditionally hold selichot services.

After just over two years of steady improvements to erev Shabbat meetings, Tikkun Leil Shabbat decided to experiment with various non-Friday-night services. The first of these was a slichot service this past Saturday night. One of the founders of TLS new the nusach and taught it to another core member who was excited to help coordinate.*

After splicing together bits of several machzorim (put out by Orthodox, Conservative, and Recon coordinating bodies) and booking space in the Reform Movement’s Religious Action center, the stage was set for a trans-denominational experience.

We had a dessert potluck and then three simultaneous learning sessions framed around Tefilah/Prayer, Teshuva/Repentance, and Tzedakah/Just Action. Ethan led a musical workshop on the thirteen attributes of god text (adonai, adonai, el rachum vechanun…). Eli led a discussion /hevruta based workshop on Rav Kook’s taxonomy of teshuvah. Laura led a creative/art based workshop focused on our past and future relationships with tzedakah. Unfortunately, due to a hellish week, i had been hard at work since havdalah on finishing the transliterating and copying of the packets. i should have given them to Kinkos, but it turned out fine.

A bit after 11pm services started. Eli led them and they were a gorgeous combination of favorite tunes, haunting high holiday tunes, and tunes i hadn’t ever heard before. We sprinkled English poetry in among the hebrew piyutim (Hebrew or Amaramaic liturgical poems). The folks we shared poetry and stories from varied from contemporary poets like Marge Piercy to and 18th century Hassidic figure, The Maggid of Dubno.

I wish we could have included more but alas, the hour was late. Nonetheless the service was beautiful, haunting, and a great first move away from our normal, K”Sh/Maariv/Dvar tikkun/Potluck model.

*Full disclosure, i love slichot and co-coordinated as well.

x-posted at jewschool.org

Rituals for Contemporary Life

2007-09-04T14:53:00.001-04:00

My friend Ari Johnson is fond of saying that his favorite thing about Judaism is the way it transforms the mundane into holy. Judaisms, at their best, have a brilliant focus on the things we do as we go through the moments of our lives and making them meaningful through their acknowledgment.

Over time new rituals have evolved as the moments in our lives in need have marking have changed. A Bar Mitzvah ritual is first recorded in Verona, Italy close to 1,000 years ago. The first Bat Mitzvah ceremony took place in 1922 as first-wave feminism gained strength and began to broaden beyond fighting de jure discrimination. [self-indulgent side note: i was lucky to have known Judith Kaplan Eisenstein z”l.]

This past weekend, following the wedding of the Ruby-K and General Anna, I had a discussion with the super-secret-identity-having Rooftopper Rav. We chatted about major moments today that don’t have good Jewish rituals (that we know of) to accompany them.

Here are a few examples:

moving in with a partner to whom you are not married. [to some extent the marriage process acts as a ritual in the case where you move in together post-huppah.]
separating from a partner to whom you were never married.
substantially changing diet (becoming/ceasing to be, kosher-keeping, veg, vegan, etc)
Accepting a new job.
Graduating from university, trade school, etc.

In most cases we lack a good ritual because the lifestage is rather new (as with getting a driver’s license), has an accompanying taboo which is decreasing (moving in with a partner w/o getting hitched), or has increased in frequency (diet changes, job changes, graduation, etc). These are all times when we would be well served to have a good marker.

Either there aren’t too many folks coming up with innovative solutions, they aren’t getting the word out, or i am out of the loop. These are all strong possibilities.

That said, there are some folks doing good work. I ran across Ritualwell.org which has some interesting stuff, including this page on getting a drivers license, which i initially put on my list of occasions without a ritual. Kudos to them.

What occasions should we have rituals for?
Who is doing good work out there to create rituals?

(X-Posted at Jewschool)

Excuse me, what?

2007-08-27T10:50:00.000-04:00

RDL showed me this clip and I'll give 82 points to anyone who can explain to me either what argument she made or tried to make.

I am truly baffled. That said, I have a very good Republican candidate for '08. she is even Bush-ier than Bush. The base will love her. Any chance she is 35?

Two additional questions:

Is the guy moderating the pageant Slater from Saved by the Bell?
Should I feel guilty that watching this clip make me feel better about myself? Should this fact actually make me feel worse about myself?

Elevation

2007-08-17T09:59:00.000-04:00

in the afternoons, at institute, i was learning zohar with jay michelson. his teaching is energetic and exciting, perhaps even frenetic. he strings together all sorts of intriguing things. one which stood out was in the context of discussing the four worlds.

We often make the mistake of thinking a higher world is more important
stop and ask yourself: does the first floor need the second?

Indeed.

Tzedakah II or towards a new way to tithe

2007-08-16T11:23:00.000-04:00

This past week I was at the havurah institute in New Hampshire. It was a great week. To be fair a week of August vacation in upper New England was sure to please, but this went beyond any normal expectation. There were so many brilliant, beautiful people, so many conversations, songs, dreams hatched, things learned, and relationships furthered.

While at 'tute i kept a list of things to blog about. hopefully i will cover most of them in the next few weeks. sorry my posting has been slow so far.

Before I offer my first idea hatched at institute, a few quick links:

you can read a blog roundup here
we had some meetings discussing big changes at jewschool. you can read more here and here.
a fuller account of the tzedakah class can be found here.

Thank you to Magid for providing the fuller account linked to above. I too, took the course on tzedakah. I loved working through some of the talmudic texts and have made tentative plans to work with them more slowly with Jacob upon the return of our life to rest here in DC. While taking the class I gained some clarity into what i am comfortable and uncomfortable about with tzedakah. a few months back i wrote about my process of tithing. I am quite comofrtable with the process of setting aside money with the intention of giving it away. i am less comfortable knowing exactly where to give it. after speaking with some friends including Jo and Jacob we hatched a plan to get some folks toghether with a broad portfolio of justice-related expertises and each basically get charged with sub-advising part of a tzedakah portfolio. we would probably all put a large chunk of our tithes into a donor-advised fund and then design it's allocations. each person would make allocation recommendations in their specialty and we'd have a diverse and effective array of causes. anyone who was so inclined, whether or not they had a role in the allocations advice, could donate to the fund and have there money distributed according to the allocations.

basically, it'd be a great way to aggregate expertise in domestic poverty reduction, global poverty, human rights, civil rights, public health, etc, and how to realize them in the world. it would provide a great way for young progressives to give and have confidence in the effectiveness and impact of their justice supporting. We would not use our whole tithes in this way as it would only include 501c3 giving (not political giving for instance) and we'd probably avoid most kinds of Jewish organizational giving. Does this sound appealing?

A Celebratory Picnic

2007-07-31T15:11:00.000-04:00

Which person born on July 30th had the greatest impact on the US's political system?

Candidates include:

a) henry ford
b) smedley butler
c) arnold schwarzenneger

of course, what makes the question interesting is that only two of the names are commonly known. smedley butler is among the most decorated war heroes in US history. What makes him interesting though is that he became a pacifist critic of the war racket. Before he did though he was approached by a group of leading US industrialists in 1933 to run the military aspects of a coup to gain power and install a fascist regime. He turned on the nazi sympathizer barons and in doing so thwarted the business plot, perhaps the most credible threat to unhinge US democracy since the civil war.

In celebration of Smedley's bold stand against fascism and the power of moneyed interests, Evin and I invited several friends from the neighborhood for a BBQ. We did it sort of haphazardly and probably forgot to invite folks we would have wanted to join us, but the turnout was amazing.

Dozens showed up. Enough that people didn't all fit in the yard:

We also were joined by children and hosted by a professor emeritus:

Of course, we made sure to include four-legged friends Elmo (above) and Marty (below):

Evin gave an impassioned discussion of Smedley Butler's imprtance in American history but was averse to being photographed:

It was a terrific time and raised awareness about an important historical topic with tremendous contemporary echoes. We hope to celebrate Smedley's courageous legacy of fighting against totalitarian-friendly moneyed interests and their constant march to war and away from democracy.

Big Change

2007-07-24T12:11:00.000-04:00

I missed the debate last night though helped devise our drinking game. A few folks came over after RDL threw something together. I headed out early to hear Eicha read and drinking liquor right before fasts is a terrible idea. Everyone picked a candidate and then we collectively chose their drinking word. All variations of the word also counted
Edwards: Hope
Richardson: Governor
Kucinich: Spiritual
Obama: Change
Hillary: Strength
Moderator/Questions: Anything with a grammatical mistake

In terms of content, i hear this was a great moment:

Edwards says something powerful. *Big Change* will need to come from a fight. I am not sure Obama has the brawling spirit and constitution for that fight. He may, and if he does i'd like to see some signs before I jump on his bandwagon. Richardson has made some amazing deals and is veteran, he may have the savvy and brazenness to win that fight. HRC, well the fight wouldn't get 80% approval from focus groups, so for her, it's probably out. Maybe she will stop making split-the-difference policy decisions and get tough but i am not holding my breath. Edwards makes a strong case above that he is the guy for this fight but i worry whether he is acting or if he really believes it. Has he turned the corner? Maybe. Hard to know. He needs to get some traction if he wants to get more juice from establishment characters, unions, and party activists.

New to the Blogroll: District Limerick

2007-07-19T10:50:00.001-04:00

A super-secret* friend of mine writes limericks concerning current events, often of a political nature. what a brilliant concept (and execution)!

Here is one from yesterday:

To choose whom from wax they will hew
For Madame Tussauds’ next debut
The public response
Was yes, please ensconce
Mayor Barry for D.C. to view

*This super-secret friend, is only super-secret in blog identity terms. we are quite publicly friends, and happily so.