Archive for December, 2015
The halfway point
I’m just a little bit over halfway through my end-of-year vacation – I’ve got the rest of this week and the weekend, and then I’m back to work on Monday. There’s a really painful moment in every vacation from work, when you wake up and realize you’ve only got a day or two left. There’s […]
almost ready and on tenterhooks
Things I did yesterday: Worked a full day Erged 14 km and completed this year’s Concept 2 Holiday Challenge Paid a bill Medicated two cats Cooked a tasty Chicken Francese (A new recipe for me. Recipe note: I do recommend this one, because it was very tasty and not too difficult – but when you’re […]
How to be Jewish – in 1846 London
I found something fascinating today: The Jewish Manual: Practical Information In Jewish And Modern Cookery With a Collection of Valuable Recipes & Hints Relating to the Toilette, written by Judith Cohen Montefiore, and published in 1846. Judith was the wife of Sir Moses Montefiore – interestingly, she was Ashkenazic and he was Sephardic, so I […]
Dear Simon
Dear Simon Winchester, I know you know your history better than that. I also know you know you’re writing for people who don’t. Therefore, please do not oversimplify to the point of inanity. Thanks, Me I’ve liked several of Winchester’s books in the past, but in The Map that Changed the World, he is losing […]
Chanukah poem – peace in contradiction
I think this year’s Chanukah poem came out a little more bellicose than I was intending, so may need some explanation. I don’t actually mind may of the ways that Chanukah has grown due to being close to Christmas, because I *like* giving gifts, and I think people of any religion need a solstice-type holiday […]
new thoughts on an old favorite
I’m rereading Freedom and Necessity, by Emma Bull and Stephen Brust, a book that’s been one of my great favorites for years, but somehow this time it’s the flaws that are striking me more. I can still feel the love but now it feels more like the love of habit than a passionate infatuation. I’m […]
Opabinia Chanukkianah
This may be the coolest menorah ever: . (I didn’t buy it, because I’m not really a biology person – more into physics. Now if someone made a nebula menorah this cool…. But I did buy a few other things from this shop, because general coolness + wine bottles.)