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{{bheadernew|December 19th|http://ronware.org/devar/miqets5775.pdf}}

Hi, again!

Another busy week in the Aaron household.  We started by releasing the “beta 2b” version of [http://8th-dev.com 8th], then we waved “so-long” to Dinah as she left for a family vacation.  Then we started ''Ḥanuka'' preparations, and I had some medical checks.  We wrapped up the week with business meetings and ''shabbat'' preparations.  The usual, in other words.

This most recent release of 8th is the last of the “beta” series.  That means that now we’re only concentrating on finishing “open issues” and polishing the product for the upcoming commercial release.  We are pretty confident that the release will be made during the first week of 2015; we’re gearing up for a small-scale “viral” marketing approach coupled with old-fashioned foot-work.  So the first quarter of 2015 will also be busy, we hope…

One of the things I was working on this week, an “open issue” as it were, is making sure the internet-handling works the same across the different platforms (from our user’s perspective).  There were a number of things which behaved differently, and unfortunate dependencies (on Linux, for example) which we wanted to eliminate.  So I unified all the network handling so now we can do all the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Representational_state_transfer REST API] things which are critical for modern network-based applications, in the same way.  But naturally, Windows does [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winsock everything differently for no good reason], which is irritating because it means writing essentially the same code but not quite, just for Windows.  Oh, well — that’s the ''raison d'être'' of 8th: we worry about such things so the programmer doesn’t have to.

Ḥanuka struck in the middle of the week.  Esther made excellent [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potato_pancake ''latkes''] — but since we didn’t have any sour cream or applesauce, we decided to go with [http://www.huyfong.com/no_frames/sriracha.htm ''sriracha''] instead.  What a fantastic combination!  Of course, not everybody likes hot-sauce (cue: Sarah).  I think it’s going to be my permanent accompaniment to the ''latkes'' from here on out.  We still haven’t had any [http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/sufganyot-of-israel-the-hanukkah-guide-to-israeli-doughnuts/ ''sufganyiot''] so far.  Truth be told, I don’t much care for them because they are too doughy and rarely have enough filling.  My limit on ''sufganyiot'' is one a year, and I may not even reach my limit this year.

Given this is the season for miracles, it’s appropriate that [http://edition.cnn.com/2014/12/17/politics/cuba-policy-change-reaction/index.html?hpt=hp_t1 Fidel Castro is free at last]!  Now that the Obamanator has set the US on the path to socialized medicine (forward!) and made up with the longest-lasting Communist dictatorship in the Americas (comrades!), he only has to get in bed with [http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/us-north-korea-responsible-sony-hack/story?id=27677015 Kim Jong-un] in order to complete his legacy (you have only your chains to lose!).  ''pace'', [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Jefferson Thomas Jefferson].

I don’t remember if I mentioned it before, but a couple months ago I started having a ringing in my ears (just the one side, actually).  It was mild, and my online research said that there was little to be done about it in any event.  Since it was mild, I didn’t care too much. But one day I had several hours of a very loud ringing, which was disturbing enough that I went to the doctor, who referred me to a ear-nose-and-throat specialist as well as an audiological exam.  This week I had the exam and also went to the specialist.  Turns out that, despite my family’s protestations to the contrary, my hearing is perfectly normal.  And indeed, the specialist couldn’t do anything for the ringing (which by now is basically gone anyway).  However, he did perform an [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epley_maneuver Epley maneuver] on me to help with the ongoing vertigo.  And it did help, so it was worth the wait.

We’re back to the nuclear family this week; Dinah’s off on a vacation with her (genetic) family, so we’ll be having a quiet ''shabbat''.  Not to say it’ll be quiet just because she’s on vacation.  Well, anyway, the menu is short:<br>
roasted chicken,
roasted potatoes,
roasted vegetables,
''salatim'',
rice,
and fruit.


Until next time,<br>
''shabbat shalom'' and ''ḥag ḥanuka sameaḥ''!

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