November 2006 Archives

Thanks to everyone's concern about the new nibling. Avi just e-mailed that everyone is home, and since the bris can be bizmano, he has 48 hours to prepare. Fortunately, my mother is en route to help out.

Of course most importantly, the most recent picture fresh off the family e-mail list:

UPDATE: We have a name! From Avi:

His name is Netanel Moshe. Netanel was a name we liked. Moshe was name after one of Esther's Grandma's relative (Muni Distenfeld -- we decided that Muni was Moshe, but there isn't any way of really ever knowing). He is very cute and awake right now :)

Incidentally, if Muni does mean something else it's too late now.

One of the local Shop-Rites in NJ was giving out free Jewish calendars. Through a series of amusing connections, a relative of the Niblings from the other side thought that the picture for November looked familiar. Sure enough, it was Eli (right) and Shelomoh (left). Though I can personally attest that they would *never* say anything so insipid as the caption.

Just got called this morning that Esther gave birth to Nibling #4 (boy number 3) about one month earlier than expected. No details or pics just yet, but Mazal Tov to the Rosenfeld's, Yuter's, extended families, and anyone else who wants while we're at it.

Update From Avi:

Esther is doing basically ok, but the surgery (c-section) will take a few weeks to fully heal. The baby has a condition called TTN (see http://www.kidshealth.org/parent/medical/lungs/ttn.html for details) which sounds bad, and the baby looks a little blue in the hands and feet, but they say will be ok (so does the website). Anyway, if you can say a mishbayrach, I'd be appreciative.

Every now and again there are a collection of stories which I find interesting, but not enough to write something substantive (not that I do anyway). Anyway I created a "quickies" section for this purpose, but I'm looking for a wittier title. Suggestions welcome, puns encouraged.

Here's today's list:

• This excellent editorial by Dinesh D'Souza attacks the "atheist hubris" that religions are the primary cause of evil in the world. We wrote about this a few weeks ago, demonstrating that some atheists function similarly to religious fundamentalists. SIW had something on this recently, but his site is down at the moment so I cannot provide a more detailed link.
• I doubt many of my readers were or are big fans of professional wrestling, but a not uncommon storyline was when a title match had a controversial ending and the official loser (a bad guy in this case) declared himself the "real champion," carried around a fake belt, and generally get in the good guy champ's way until the blowoff match on pay per view. Why does this matter? Because the exact same thing is happening in Mexico with the presidential elections. No word yet on the steel cage match.
• At the NJDC phone conference someone asked if there was a concern regarding Keith Ellison being the first Muslim elected to Congress. The NJDC said that they were encouraged by Ellison's positions on Israel and in general were not worried. Yesterday Ellison delivered a video address to a CAIR fund raiser. His remarks were typical Democratic talking points which is to be expected, but there could be some concern based on CAIR's track record. In fairness there were other Representative who spoke (notably all Democrats) and addressing a crowd does not indicate total agreement with its policies. Still, the political world does place a value on which organizations merit appearances. It might be something, it might be nothing, but it will probably be fodder for someone.
• I used to live in Spring Valley NY. Back then we didn't roll this way.

Despite being a demographic minority in America, Jews seemingly wield a disproportionate influence in American politics such that the "Jewish Vote" becomes an annual topic of interest. Politicians are concerned with this minority that both Democrats and Republicans equally compete for the "pro-Israel" label, and any missteps must be swiftly addressed. There has been some recent discussion as to the nature, significance, and future of the Jewish vote specifically mostly focusing on party affiliation and voting patterns. Today on YUTOPIA we will be reconsidering if partisanship is really the ideal context for defining the Jewish vote.

New Scientist reports on an advancement in painkillers which might seem hard to swallow:

Saliva from humans has yielded a natural painkiller up to six times more powerful than morphine, researchers say.

The substance, dubbed opiorphin, may spawn a new generation of natural painkillers that relieve pain as well as morphine but without the addictive and psychological side effects of the traditional drug.

On the downside, it kind of gives new meaning to "lohesh 'al hamaka" (M. Sanhedrin 10:1), so if you're planning on taking this, just don't say anything.

In a recent Newsweek article, devout atheist Sam Harris laments religion's influence in American politics and in shaping public policy. While we might expect such arguments to assert the seperation of church and state, Harris' main objection is that religions are fundamentally immoral and unethical.1

There's a great quote today courtesy of Rev. David Clippard speaking at the Missouri Baptist Convention's annual meeting in St. Louis. While his speech was littered with anti-Islamic statements, his comments afterwards were perplexing to say the least:

Clippard said Tuesday that his message was really about love.

"I don't hate Islamic people," he said. "We need to love these folks, go after them and love them, one at a time. We need to crucify them with Christ."

And here I thought the crucifixion was a *bad* thing when really it was just a little "tough love" by the Romans. My question is are 2x4's now considered acceptable gifts for a 5th or "wood" anniversary?

Last night my cell phone decided to shuffle off this mortal coil frequency. My options are as follows:

1. Keep my much better than average deal with Sprint and spend $200-$300 to replace the phone.
2. Cancel my Sprint contract with no penalty and sign up for another service, most likely T-Mobile (best rates on a GSM network).

Keep in mind that with me being me I have no idea where I'm going to be in the near to far future.

Any thoughts?

UPDATE: Moot point - I'd have to pay the $150 cancellation fee because the grace period ended yesterday. *sigh* At least I'm certain I will not be renewing with Sprint when the current contract is up.