October 27, 2018, Pittsburgh. Today I remember:
Joyce Fienberg
Richard Gottfried
Rose Mallinger
Jerry Rabinowitz
Cecil Rosenthal
David Rosenthal
Bernice Simon
Sylvan Simon
Daniel Stein
Melvin Wax
Irving Younger

I miss my friends.

Yesterday, listening to the #haftarah for beha'alotecha, I was struck by the part at the end: Zechariah doesn't recognize the menorah in the vision and asks the angel "what is this?", which made me think of the simple child at the #pesach seder. The angel responds by saying "not by might, not by power, but by My spirit, says God", and lots more stuff that is after the haftarah section -- but doesn't answer the question! Did Zechariah ever find out what the menorah was?

We're commanded to count the years to the yovel, just like we count the omer. Counting the omer has a b'racha. Does counting the yovel have one too? https://judaism.codidact.com/posts/293921

@mfessler thank you! Those were probably the spots -- I remember clearly that there were congregational parts *before* the shira, in regular torah trope, and that surprised me. (The shira itself didn't surprise me.)

I realize that, like the tam, I don't quite know enough to know how to ask, but does anybody recognize this torah-reading practice from the seventh day of #pesach? https://judaism.codidact.com/posts/293834

Achievement unlocked: judging coffee consumption correctly to use up the oatmilk creamer Friday afternoon before Pesach. 🙂

@samiamsam @hacks4pancakes when I got married I said "why would I give up my name?" and my husband agreed this made no sense. I wasn't even thinking about the paperwork challenges I was dodging by making that decision!

@hacks4pancakes another thing that applies specifically to many elderly and disabled folks: my relative is not online, at all. She never learned how; my father of blessed memory handled anything that had to be done online. She does everything by either mail or in-person visits (for example to her local bank). Some disabilities also impede online navigation, especially given the crappy state of accessibility in some corners of the Internet.

People in this position will, with this bill, need to do a lot more running around physically in order to meet the prereqs before they can (again) run around to handle voter registration in person. Some of that running around will need to be through programs like ACCESS. Quite the burden! Does this bill have provisions for assisting people in getting those documents? Yeah, I thought not. Quite ridiculous when people already *have* authenticated ID (that they might have to show when voting).

We've released v0.10.0 of qpixel, the #FOSS #Codidact #QnA platform. Lots of new features since the last release, including SAML/SSO, better Docker support, spam mitigation, and about a zillion usability and accessibility improvements across many functional areas. Release notes: https://github.com/codidact/qpixel/releases/tag/v0.10.0

@hacks4pancakes I just helped an elderly relative sign up for "Real ID" before the May deadline. She was hung up on not being able to prove the name change at marriage, and had to order a copy of the marriage license. Real ID requires that you document the chain of changes; it sounds like this bill requires an exact match with specific documents. Real ID is a federal law and obviously the people behind this bill know it exists, but "somehow", this bill has stronger requirements anyway. It's "SAVE"ing something, but not what it declares on the tin. :-(

@efraim @serge agreed -- that nailed it, and West Wing in general did a good job with this.

@serge oh, I didn't mean to do a "in the future Jews believe X" thing; I was drawing parallels to what I see today. But yeah, outsiders get this stuff wrong all the time and I wish I knew how we could help them. I guess I rationalize in order to still be able to enjoy fiction despite this problem.

Bechdel test resonates!

@effy @serge ah, that does ring a bell -- been too long since I watched that episode.

@ben another vote for treating security questions as passwords. You don't have to give the real answers.

Downside: I once had to call my bank and provide my "mother's maiden name". Awkward!

If RFK's confirmation doesn't make you sick, it soon will.

#USPol #RFK

@serge I know people today who are Jewish (and the identity is important) but largely disconnected -- secular Jews, culture-but-not-religion Jews, etc. Given a couple hundred more years, further dispersion, and changes in education and how traditional values are transmitted, and Ivanova doesn't seem improbable to me.

That said, yeah, the show was written by a gentile and that's big factor. I don't think JMS designed her as that kind of Jew; I think he ended up with something that some of us can rationalize.

@hauntedhideaway @littlemiao it was especially surprising because the orange and gray ones are littermates I got as kittens, but the tortie was a later adult stray and in general there was not much trust between the first two and her. I was pretty shocked when all three piled up like that!

@hauntedhideaway @littlemiao much better than one time when we had "family night" at the vet's and they were *so* eager to get off of that exam table and seek each other's protection... I brought them in three carriers! (And forcibly redistributed them before leaving, because I don't think that carrier was rated for 40-45 pounds of cat.)

@serge yeah, it's bad in the US too, but I've heard too many Canadians talk about over-long wait times, including things where those delays made the situation worse, to think that's a viable option. My husband and I *could* get residency, but it doesn't sound like a good idea. I'm happy to keep visiting, but not looking to move.

@feedback for stir-fry my go-to protein is tofu. Get tofu labelled "firm". Press to remove some liquid, cube, fry to "brown" (I usually use sesame oil), then set aside (optionally w/drizzle of sauce) while you do the veggies and add back in w/sauce at the end.

Black beans, chickpeas, and lentils are all protein-rich and versatile. (Just made an amazing chickpea-lentil stew for the first time last week; will find recipe if you're interested). I make black-bean enchiladas (sometimes w/rice added in) topped w/cheese.

Eggs are another good source of protein. Hard-boiled they can be added to salads. I don't know if eggs are a risk with bird flu or just the birds themselves.

I eat fish several times a week (mostly salmon, cod, tuna), though fish prices are closer to meat prices than to bean/lentil/etc prices. Still, good source of protein if you can spend the money.

This is all over the place I know -- happy to clarify/elaborate on request. Most weeks my only meat is for Shabbat.