Blog/August 2019/Aug 30th

August 30th

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Back to normal (for us) this week, B”H! We managed to maintain our sanity while the outside world swirls around the drain. Esther worked, I worked, Sarah worked, Daniela and Jeremy worked; Mom dozed.

Israel:

Netanyahu pulled another rabbit out of his hat by convincing the leader of the “Zehut” party, Feiglin, to withdraw his party from the upcoming elections in exchange for various considerations. If that actually comes about, it will mean that 2 or 3 seats worth of votes won’t get lost, and presumably will end up in either Likud, or Yamina.

The “Blue and White” party is thrashing about, trashing Likud with uninspired ads about sinking submarines — an unsubtle jab at Netanyahu’s “submarine affair”. That party’s biggest problem is that the #2, Yair Lapid, keeps making stupid statements in public. They would be well advised to shut him up if they want to have a chance to gain a majority.

Our northern border has been heating up. We’ve apparently reached some sort of hudna agreement with Hizb’allah, though it’s been known to happen that our enemies don’t abide by their own terms. You know?

USA:

The Leader of the Free World made an ill thought-out statement about Jews. Not that his making such statements is uncommon or unexpected; but saying that Jews who vote Democrat are “disloyal” — without specifying what, exactly, that means — was a particularly bad misstep. And given his record of misstatements, that’s saying quite a lot.

The “brave” and “fresh” women of the Muslima Caucus persist in their nasty attacks against Israel and Jews. Without, it must be noted, any pushback whatsoever from Democrat leadership. If I were an American Jew, I would be very leery of supporting a political party which has strayed more and more into overt anti-Semitism.

Seriously?

• The veteran Linux image-processing program the “GIMP” has been forked to give it a less “offensive” name. Because it’s 2019.
• Why are world-leaders busily consulting with a 16-year old girl? I mean, if climate change is in fact a serious problem about which we can do something, wouldn’t it make a lot more sense to consult with scientists and engineers rather than photo-opping?
• It was bound to happen: NASA is said to be investigating the first crime committed in space. Next up: Nigerian princes on the moon.
• Trump’s Greenland New Deal. I don’t know if I should laugh or cry, to be honest.
• Whole Foods CEO says plant-based “meat” is bad for you, though it’s good for the environment. BTW, that dude doesn’t look so healthy himself, just sayin’…

I spent a good amount of time tracking down two Android issues in 8th. Both were difficult to figure out, and both were “my fault” in that I used the JUCE library in a way it wasn’t designed to handle. The upshot is that I fixed the draw-speed issue on Android, so that made the headaches worthwhile.

Jeremy seems to have managed to track down the immigration records of my father’s father and grandmother — the enigmatic Aarons. Of course, the names don’t match; but they rarely do in these sorts of things. It seems my father’s paternal grandmother came from Devenishki, just south of Vilna. Presumably my father’s paternal grandfather also came from that region, though he’s been very difficult to track down.

And most importantly: I’ve learned to make the most perfect Long Island Iced Tea. How does a drink with so much alcohol in it not taste alcoholic?

The weather’s holding the summer pattern of “hot”. It’s supposed to cool down next week.

We’re back to the usual complement of diners this shabbat. The menu includes:
homemade pita, chicken paprikash, roasted cauliflower, roasted potatoes, various salatim, and apple cake.

Until next time,
shabbat shalom!

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