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Not Cake
This is one of my hodegpodge entries - basically everything but cake.
Follow-ups: Ron solved the mystery of my "303/357" note to myself. That's a battery size and I wrote it down when I needed to replace the batteries in two of my travel alarm clocks.
I solved the mystery of "3200-11" myself by (duh) googling it. It's a DoD Instruction having to do with test ranges.
I also did a bit of research on "boughten" and found it is northern U.S. dialect. I will note that I use it only as an adjective and almost entirely in relation to food items, though I could stretch to referring to a boughten sweater (as opposed to a hand-knit one).
Sometimes the headline says it all: "Car eating rabbits invade Denver airport." The story explains that the rabbits eat soy-based wiring found in some late model cars.
Weird thing to wonder about: Suppose a transsexual decides to convert to Judaism. What would an Orthodox rabbi do? I am, of course, assuming the person's history is known to the rabbi, but the question becomes harder in some ways and easier in others if it is not.
Fun with names: I was amused to learn that one of the largest manufacturers of glass for the defense industry (e.g. in night vision glasses) is Schott.
Celebrity death watch: I am slightly annoyed (though not at all surprised) that Barbara Billingsley (who played June Cleaver on Leave It To Beaver) got a lot more attention than Benoit Mandelbrot (who did much of the key mathematical research on fractals).
Story swap: I went to the Voices in the Glen story swap at Michael's on Saturday night. There was a reasonably good turn out and the swaps are always fun. A particular highlight was hearing Eve's son, Jonathan, tell "Birds of America." I also enjoyed Bill's story about Elizabeth Bathory.
Coral Reef Update: The Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef Exhibit is open at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History! It was supposed to open on Saturday but there was a water main break on Constitution Avenue, so the museum was closed. I saw the reef yesterday afternoon and it is lovely. The community reef is the biggest part of the display and is huge. I was able to find some of my contributions. And my name is spelled correctly on the plaque, which is always a plus. The exhibit runs through April 24, so you have lots of time to check it out.
USA Science and Engineering Festival: The inaugural USA Science and Engineering Festival is next weekend. There will be booths on the National Mall and around Freedom Plaza and Wilson Plaza and in the Mellon Auditorium. I'm volunteering and will be at the Mellon Auditorium info booth all day Saturday, so stop by and say hello if you're there. And you should be there. It looks like there are a lot of cool interactive exhibits and plenty of performances on four major stages and several smaller ones. (In case you are wondering how I came to be involved, the call for volunteers went out to a local MIT email list. I went to the volunteer training yesterday, which is why I was already in the city to check out the coral roof.)
Amazing Race: I haven't been to Kiruna, Sweden, though I've been to Sweden and I've stayed at another Ice Hotel (in Quebec). My wrap-up is behind a cut since some people may not have viewed the episode yet.
I'm sorry to see the Princeton boys go, but they did it to themselves by taking so long to realize that Jonathan could not do the sled. If you're going to switch challenges, you need to do so right away.
I think Jill and Thomas made the right decision on using the Express Pass. They couldn't really know how long the other teams would take and it was clear they were not having a good day. It would really suck to be eliminated without having used it.
My inclination is to root for Michael and Kevin now. They handled their situation well, finding out about the earlier flight, and were classy enough to tell Gary and Mallory about it. (That also helped them get booked on it, as Mallory found the Lufthansa agent who helped them.) Michael also seemed to have a lot of fun with the dogsled challenge.
Follow-ups: Ron solved the mystery of my "303/357" note to myself. That's a battery size and I wrote it down when I needed to replace the batteries in two of my travel alarm clocks.
I solved the mystery of "3200-11" myself by (duh) googling it. It's a DoD Instruction having to do with test ranges.
I also did a bit of research on "boughten" and found it is northern U.S. dialect. I will note that I use it only as an adjective and almost entirely in relation to food items, though I could stretch to referring to a boughten sweater (as opposed to a hand-knit one).
Sometimes the headline says it all: "Car eating rabbits invade Denver airport." The story explains that the rabbits eat soy-based wiring found in some late model cars.
Weird thing to wonder about: Suppose a transsexual decides to convert to Judaism. What would an Orthodox rabbi do? I am, of course, assuming the person's history is known to the rabbi, but the question becomes harder in some ways and easier in others if it is not.
Fun with names: I was amused to learn that one of the largest manufacturers of glass for the defense industry (e.g. in night vision glasses) is Schott.
Celebrity death watch: I am slightly annoyed (though not at all surprised) that Barbara Billingsley (who played June Cleaver on Leave It To Beaver) got a lot more attention than Benoit Mandelbrot (who did much of the key mathematical research on fractals).
Story swap: I went to the Voices in the Glen story swap at Michael's on Saturday night. There was a reasonably good turn out and the swaps are always fun. A particular highlight was hearing Eve's son, Jonathan, tell "Birds of America." I also enjoyed Bill's story about Elizabeth Bathory.
Coral Reef Update: The Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef Exhibit is open at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History! It was supposed to open on Saturday but there was a water main break on Constitution Avenue, so the museum was closed. I saw the reef yesterday afternoon and it is lovely. The community reef is the biggest part of the display and is huge. I was able to find some of my contributions. And my name is spelled correctly on the plaque, which is always a plus. The exhibit runs through April 24, so you have lots of time to check it out.
USA Science and Engineering Festival: The inaugural USA Science and Engineering Festival is next weekend. There will be booths on the National Mall and around Freedom Plaza and Wilson Plaza and in the Mellon Auditorium. I'm volunteering and will be at the Mellon Auditorium info booth all day Saturday, so stop by and say hello if you're there. And you should be there. It looks like there are a lot of cool interactive exhibits and plenty of performances on four major stages and several smaller ones. (In case you are wondering how I came to be involved, the call for volunteers went out to a local MIT email list. I went to the volunteer training yesterday, which is why I was already in the city to check out the coral roof.)
Amazing Race: I haven't been to Kiruna, Sweden, though I've been to Sweden and I've stayed at another Ice Hotel (in Quebec). My wrap-up is behind a cut since some people may not have viewed the episode yet.
I'm sorry to see the Princeton boys go, but they did it to themselves by taking so long to realize that Jonathan could not do the sled. If you're going to switch challenges, you need to do so right away.
I think Jill and Thomas made the right decision on using the Express Pass. They couldn't really know how long the other teams would take and it was clear they were not having a good day. It would really suck to be eliminated without having used it.
My inclination is to root for Michael and Kevin now. They handled their situation well, finding out about the earlier flight, and were classy enough to tell Gary and Mallory about it. (That also helped them get booked on it, as Mallory found the Lufthansa agent who helped them.) Michael also seemed to have a lot of fun with the dogsled challenge.
no subject
If we were talking about a M-F transsexual, that might apply. But it would seem not to apply to a F-M.
no subject
And it could apply either way, depending on definition.
If an M-to-F transsexual is a woman, then the law about a man not being able to convert isn't relevant, because she's a woman. But if you go by chromosomal sex, then only a pre-operative transsexual can convert.
Similarly, if a F-to-M transsexual is counted as a man, as he is, then he would count as a man who was born castrated. And that's a separate category in Jewish law than a man who has become castrated; I don't think there is a prohibition against the conversion of a man who was born castrated.
I would make the further argument that the existence of a category of men who are born without testicles could be noted as an acceptance of the existence of men who are born without male sexual characteristics, and therefore an acknowledgement of F-to-M people. Further, there is the category of tumtum, who are people born with ambiguous or indeterminate gender.