Blog/October 2020/Oct 16th

Oct 16th

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Hi, there! Esther was so busy with tax-deadline work, I barely saw her. I think we’re still married, but I’ll have to check next time I see her! I was also busy, with lots of techie stuff (more later).

Mom and I both “e-voted” (in the US elections). I didn’t intend to vote this time, just as I hadn’t voted the last time — the choices, the choices: c’mon, man! Also: because I just can’t get as fired up as all that about US politics (despite what it seems like from reading this blog). However, I was prodded into casting my contrarian vote by someone (you know who you are!) who jokingly told me not to vote (so I wouldn’t ruin the upcoming World of Next Tuesday™ the Socialists are promising). Therefore, of course, I voted. Don’t tell me what to do, you’re not the boss of me!

Since, I’m registered in Washington State, any vote I cast which isn’t for the very Left-most of the Left is bound to be lost in the rounding-errors of counting, but “it’s a moral victory” as the losers say.

The quite unsurprising news is that most Israelis prefer Trump, while most American Jews prefer Biden. Things look different from over here. Not only Israelis, but many of the moderate Arab states also prefer Trump to Biden, because Biden is seen as likely to continue Obama’s absolutely disastrous Middle East policies, and no sane person in our region wants that. Not to mention the high likelihood that a Biden presidency would soon become a Harris one, and thereafter a “Squad” one.

Bric-à-brac:

• Follow the Science™! The WHO now says lockdowns are bad and only make the poor poorer, which is exactly what I have been saying from the beginning. It’s reassuring they finally came to a logical conclusion, not that it will affect policies.
• Gal Gadot (the Israeli model and actress) is making a movie about Cleopatra. This prompted outraged screeching from the mentally unbalanced and SJWs (OK, those are synonyms) claiming Cleopatra should only be played by an Arab or a Black woman. Ignoring of course the historical truth that she was a Macedonian Greek, not an Arab, not Black; and that Gal Gadot is probably more closely related to her than any Arab or Black would be. Not that any of that is relevant regarding an actor’s fitness for a rôle, but that’s the world in which we live today.
• When only some lives matter, no lives matter.
• Did you know the brand name “Eskimo Pies” is offensive? I didn’t, but then I also didn’t know that the term “sexual preference” is also offensive. I mean it literally wasn’t, last week; but the online Merriam-Webster dictionary rushed to change the definition this week during the SCOTUS deliberations. I know language is fluid, but this is gender-fluid, and not the enjoyable kind.

On the techie-front: I spent part of the week hunting down some obscure “undocumented features” in 8th; fortunately, I was able to fix them all for the next release. I also added a new data type, “tree”, and have implemented the very useful and somewhat obscure BK-tree, which I think will be quite helpful for finding “close matches” in records. I hadn’t even heard of it before one of my users suggested it. More tree stuff will be added for the next release, which hopefully will happen within a fortnight. No, I’m not British, but I can still use the word “fortnight”. You’re not the boss of me!

Our weather has become much more pleasant, though still above the average temperatures for the season. Still, we’ll take what we can get! It should cool off over the next week, insha’allah.

We’re back to a “normal” shabbat this week. The menu includes:
homemade ḥalla, orange soup, roasted lamb, roasted potatoes, some kind of eggplant, veggie cholent, various salatim, and date-nut cake.

Until next time,
shabbat shalom!

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