Lawyer-Wearing-Yarmulka

I haven't seen this in probably 20 years. It's amazing how it sticks with you though; I still remember the whole yip yip yip yip thing.



via Sago Boulevard

Can someone please tell me why Blogger.com is in Spanish when I use Firefox, but in English when I use Internet Explorer?

Ok, so my new template is up and running and I think I really like it.  But there’s one small problem and maybe somebody with better HTML skills than me can help.  With my old templates, clicking on the title “Classmate-Wearing-Yarmulka” at the top of the page would link back to the home page.  For some reason it doesn’t do that anymore.  So if someone arrives at my blog from a JRants link, there’s no way for them to navigate back to the main page.  How do I fix this?  

A year ago I started this blog to keep myself entertained during down time at my summer job. A year later and 240 posts, I'm still going strong. How much longer can I keep this up? I guess as long as I still have strong opinions about religion, law, and politics or until I find another outlet to express my opinions. (Public office someday?)

I've been on the Internet for almost 12 years now, and I've never stayed with one thing for at least a year. Chat rooms, message boards, Usenet, online groups, etc..., but I've found the J-Blogosphere the most enjoyable of them all. A special thanks needs to be given to DovBear, whose blog sucked me into this wonderful alternate universe. 13 months ago I had never read a blog. One day at work I somehow stumbled across DB and got immediately hooked.

What a long strange trip it's been so far. I hope it doesn’t end.  

Once again, I'm trying a new look. My goal is simplicity, and something wide. Anyone having trouble viewing this correctly? If you are, leave a comment and include your monitor resolution.

It seems that Chaim has been in contact with the manager of Dschinghis-Khan.  No, Mordechai ben David didn’t ask permission to rip off their song, but there ok with it anyways.  Pretty cool, check it out.  And for the three of you who haven’t seen the original video yet, a link is provided.

Every so often the New York Times actually publishes an Op-Ed worth reading.  A perfect example of this is Eric Posner’s piece two days ago.  He clearly lays out the reasoning why Guantánamo shouldn’t be shut down.  

But most of the time, the Times just prints drivel like today’s Op-Ed.  I’m sorry, but anyone named Clark Kent Ervin shouldn’t be allowed to write.  At least not under his own name.  

And the last chance of me making aliyah is extinguished after reading this.  

You can’t make this stuff up.  Check out Orthomom’s post on the crassest attempt I’ve ever seen to raise money for a Jewish organization.  Basically it’s “give money to us and you won’t die in a horrible car crash”.  Who needs seat belts and anti-lock brakes?  I’ve got 2,000 kids saying Tehilim for me!  

I'm having trouble with my new template. So looks like it's back to good old green and blue for now. Ugh.

Two years into law school and now they tell me?  

Great editorial in today's Wall Street Journal.

Money quote:

Combatants who fail to obey those laws--by not wearing distinctive military insignia or targeting civilians--are not entitled to its privileges. If they were, the very purpose of the Convention would be rendered a nonsense. And this is why the U.S. has refused Geneva privileges to the enemy combatants at Guantanamo, which we hope is an argument heeded by the Supreme Court as it decides the Hamdan case.

From NBC10.com:

An incredible video from CNBC shows an AOL customer trying to cancel his account, but a phone rep won't let him do it. What customer Vincent Ferrari got when he tried to cancel his account was a lot of frustration.

It took him 15 minutes waiting on the phone just to reach a real, live person.

And, what happened next was recorded by Ferrari on audio and lasted about four minutes:

CLOCK READOUT - 00:00

AOL REPRESENTATIVE: Hi this is John at AOL... how may I help you today?

VINCENT FERRARI: I wanted to cancel my account.

AOL: Sorry to hear that. Let's pull your account up here real quick. Can I have your name please?

VINCENT: Vincent Ferrari.

CLOCK READOUT - 00:30

AOL: You've had this account for a long time.

VINCENT: Yup.

AOL: Use this quite a bit. What was the cause of wanting to turn this off today?

VINCENT: I just don't use it anymore.

AOL: Do you have a high speed connection, like the DSL or cable?

VINCENT: Yup.

AOL: How long have you had that...

VINCENT: Years...

AOL: ...the high speed?

VINCENT: ...years.

AOL: Well, actually I'm showing a lot of usage on this account.

VINCENT: Yeah, a long time, a long time ago, not recently...

CLOCK READOUT - 01:47

AOL: Okay, I mean is there a problem with the software itself?

VINCENT: No. I just don't use it, I don't need it, I don't want it. I just don't need it anymore.

AOL: Okay. So when you use this... I mean, use the computer, I'm saying, is that for business or for... for school?

VINCENT: Dude, what difference does it make. I don't want the AOL account anymore. Can we please cancel it?

CLOCK READOUT - 02:21

AOL: Last year was 545, last month was 545 hours of usage...

VINCENT: I don't know how to make this any clearer, so I'm just gonna say it one last time. Cancel the account.

AOL: Well explain to me what's, why...

VINCENT: I'm not explaining anything to you. Cancel the account.

AOL: Well, what's the matter man? We're just, I'm just trying to help here.

VINCENT: You're not helping me. You're helping me...

AOL: I am trying to help.

VINCENT: Helping... listen, I called to cancel the account. Helping me would be canceling the account. Please help me and cancel the account.

AOL: No, it wouldn't actually...

VINCENT: Cancel my account...

AOL: Turning off your account...

VINCENT: ...cancel the account...

AOL: ...would be the worst thing that...

VINCENT: ...cancel the account.

CLOCK READOUT - 03:02

AOL: Okay, cause I'm just trying to figure out...

VINCENT: Cancel the account. I don't know how to make this any clearer for you. Cancel the account. When I say cancel the account, I don't mean help me figure out how to keep it, I mean cancel the account.

AOL: Well, I'm sorry, I don't know what anybody's done to you Vincent because all I'm...

VINCENT: Will you please cancel the account.

CLOCK READOUT - 03:32

AOL: Alright, some day when you calmed down you're gonna realize that all I was trying to do was help you... and it was actually in your best interest to listen to me.

VINCENT: Wonderful, Okay.

CLOCK READOUT - 03:39

"I've never ever experienced anything like that," Ferrari told CNBC.

He recounts how the AOL representative - as a last resort even asked if his dad was home.

"I think I could've put up with everything, but at the point when he asked to speak to my father, I came very close to losing it at that point," said the 30-year-old Ferrari.

Ferrari then posted the call online, and the response was tremendous.

AOL sent him an apology and said the customer service rep was no longer with the company.

I finally got around to writing another post at Just Another Jewish Conspiracy.

Enjoy!

Drudge links to a story today about a 14 year old girl suing MySpace.com for $30 million. It seems she met some guy online, who claimed to be a high-school senior. After exchanging emails and phone calls, they met in real life. Turns out the guy was a bit older than that, and the guy sexually assaulter her.  The lawsuit claims that MySpace doesn't verify the age of its users.  Ignore for the moment the fact that responsibility here lays with the girls and her parents.  Ignore for the moment that a girl should never meet a guy she meet online unless she is carrying an automatic weapon and a hunting knife.  Ignore for a moment that even if there was an age verification system it wouldn’t stop a 17 year old rapist from attacking girls.

Better yet, don’t ignore all of this.  Take some damn personal responsibility, and stop blaming everyone else for your stupid mistake.  

Great article in today's NY Times about the first shul in Bentonville, Arkansas.

Drudge links to a story about vandals that are emptying jugs of water that a humanitarian group had placed in the desert near the border. It seems that lots of Mexicans die of dehydration while trying to cross the border, so Humane Borders volunteers are trying to keep them alive. The "vandals" don't like what the volunteers are doing.

So are these volunteers humanitarians or criminals. On one hand, they are definitely saving people's lives. On the other hand, they are aiding and abetting a criminal activity. Why is this any different then handing out maps or distracting the border patrol?

Wow, so many stories in the news today.  Bush in Baghdad.  Rove won’t face any charges.  Israel says Hamas mine killed family on the beach, and not Israeli shells.

I don’t know where to start.  

...Apparently doesn't apply if you're away for Shabbos.

We had guests this past Shabbos, a young kollel couple who were in town for a simcha. In the guest room, there is a computer. They asked if they could use it. I resisted the urge to ask them if they had permission from their Rosh Yeshiva, as I doubted that the husband needed it for business. I also resisted the urge to check the browser history and forward the contents to his shv'er.

Am I the only one who sees this as a good thing? All over the world, people are clamoring for the U.S. to shut down Guantanamo Bay. Well if the prisoners keep hanging themselves, and if the jailers permit the hunger strikes to continue, then soon their won't be any reason to keep the prison open!

The NY Times has an article about how employers are checking MySpace and Facebook to find information about potential interviewees. Bottom line is- don't post pictures of yourself passed out drunk, and don't write that you like to smoke weed.

The article doesn't mention blogs, but I've always followed one rule: Never post anything that would embarress you if your blog-anonymity is blown.

3 weeks in on the job, I finally got my first check. Nice.

I don't normally blog about my dating life, but I wanted to get this off my chest.

So the other night, I go out on a shidduch date. Really nice girl, and we have (what I thought), was a really nice time. No awkward silences, the conversation went well, etc. I couldn't have scripted a better first date.

Call the shadchan the next morning, say I had a really nice time and want to go out again.

A few hours later, shadchan calls back and says that while she had a really nice time, she just didn't see it, but she thinks I'm perfect for one of her friends, yada yada yada.

So naturally, I'm disappointed. I thought for sure she would want to go out again. The way I figure, unless you're 100% sure, it's always worth a second date. I don't know if the girl was 100% sure, but if she was, I can't blame her for not wanting to go out again. Lord knows I've said no after one date countless times.

So what I want to know is- would you rather have a really nice time on a date, oblivious to the fact that the other person has no interest but keeps up the facade through out the whole date (for the sake of being nice), or would you rather get the sense from him/her that this aint happening and have a lousy time as your date shuts down on you?

One leads to apprehension after the date as you wait for the shadchan gets back to you, hoping that the girl/guy wants to go out again, and then you get all disappointed when you find out that they are not interested. The other just means you have a lousy date. Which would you prefer?

...and now I've stooped to his level. But what do you expect after an exchange like this?

Dov Bear:

Repugs are phenom. succesful on the radio because their brand of politics is rediculously simple, as it is made up (mostly) of lies, smear and fear mongering.

Democrats are less succeful on the radio. No one approaches the Rush/Savage/Hannity numbers. Why is that? Are you really saying that among all the radio hosts in the whole wide world the Democrats can't find someone capable of doing big radio numbers? Why do you suppose that is?

Me:

Republicans work better on the radio than democrats for the same reason people buy japanese cars over americans: they offer a superior product.

DovBear:

Are you really in law school? Is your father the dean?

I concede they supply a superior product. Wasn't that obvious? What I want to know is why the Democrats can't do it, too. We can identify elements of Japanese and American culture that explain why one country is better at producing cars than the other.

But when I identify what I think are the elemets of republican culture that make them more succesful on the radio, you reply: "They put out a better product??"

Your brilliance leaves me dumnbfounded.

Me:

The product is conservatism. It's superior .

As to why conservatism is superior, well that's for a whole other post.

DovBear:

Potatoe chips sell better than oranges. Are potatoe chips superior?

Ezzie:

False choice. They're not 2 brands of the same product. But conservatism and liberalism are 2 approaches to the same thing, and conservatism is generally superior.

Most firms nowadays have a full time business casual dress code. Button-down shirt, pressed pants, and you're good to go. Other firms permit business casual during the summer.

Not my firm.

Except for Fridays, it's all suits, all the time.

When I interviewed, one of the attorneys mentioned it offhand. I never asked if it would apply interns as well. So on my first day, I wore a suit, hoping that someone would tell me, "Oh you don't have to wear a suit", or something like that.

Well, that didn't happen. So now I wear a suit everyday. Thankfully, as an Orthodox Jew who goes to shul every Shabbos, I have a closet full of suits. But I wonder- if someone else had my job, what would he do? The job doesn't pay enough to buy a new wardrobe. How many second year law students have more than one, maybe two suits?

Yeah, it's a hassle wearing a suit everyday, I'm still learning the art of matching a tie to a colored shirt. But on some level, I think it's pretty cool. I may not know anything about practicing law, but I sure look like lawyer.

I'm trying out a new template. Since I know zilch about HTML, this may take a while.