Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Sometimes, You Have to Go Right to the Top
RE: Ubsubscribe/Update Keep In Touch
Dear Superintendant [Redacted]:
I've tried a half dozen times to unsubscribe from a notification service about events at [Redacted Middle School], because my son is now a freshman at [Redacted High School].
Apparently, other parents of 9th graders have had the same problem. The "footer" at the bottom of all of the emails says that one can unsubscribe by calling a number, sending a letter or replying to the email.
In response to unsubscribe requests, a [Redacted Middle School] administrator sent out instructions for how to unsubscribe by logging into an [Redacted County Public Schools] account and changing ones preferences.
The email is "cut-and-pasted" below. I'll continue my narrative beneath it.
_______
> From: Redacted@redacted.edu
> To: Redacted@hotmail.com
> Date: Tue, 20 Sep 2011 07:13:11 -0700
> Subject: Ubsubscribe/Update Keep In Touch
>
>
> Parents/Guardians:
>
> We have received a number of requests to remove parents from the Keep In Touch system. The basic Keep In Touch system updates students that are enrolled in a school each year. If your child no longer attends [Redacted], but you are still receiving emails, you may be enrolled in Keep In Touch Plus. Please use the link below to find information about how to update your account. If you are enrolled in Keep In Touch plus, only you can remove yourself from the distribution list.
>
> www.redacted.edu/kit/#
>
> This page also includes a number that you may contact, if this removal process did not work for you.
>
>
> -----About this E-mail-----
>
> This e-mail has been sent to you by [REDACTED] MS. To maximize their communication with you, you may be receiving this e-mail in addition to a phone call with the same message. If you wish to discontinue this service, please inform [REDACTED] MS IN PERSON, by US MAIL, by TELEPHONE at (XXX) 867-5309 or REPLY TO THIS E-MAIL.
______
Instead of following the instructions to log in elsewhere, I again followed the instructions in the footer. That's how the federal law governing "spam" says I'm supposed to be able to unsubscribe. The whole point of the relevant part of the "CAN SPAM Act" is to make unsubscribing easier for the recipient. Its intent is reflected in the footer.
As a public school and public school system, [Redacted MS] and [Redacted County Public Schools] may be exempt from these requirements. I don't know. But if you are bound by them, ignoring them can be a costly business. You might want to consult an expert.
But even if you're exempt, sending out instructions that contradict themselves is a dumb thing to do. (So is failing to proofread the subject heading of a mass email, especially one that's bound to be unwelcome in the first place.)
My latest effort to unsubscribe --- the way the footer indicated that I could --- earned me a phone call from someone at [Redacted], to explain that the instructions in the body of the note were the only way to unsubscribe. I explained the things I've explained in the last three paragraphs.
My explanation was unwelcome. The caller reiterated that the instructions in the body of the text offered the only way to unsubscribe from the unwanted, and unwonted, emails. When pressed about the footer, the caller told me he could not control the footer and when I asked that he contact someone who could, he indicated that he couldn't get the footer changed. He insisted that the body of the text was the only salient information, and expressed some impatience with my unwillingness to accept this.
He also didn't take kindly to my suggestion about proofreading subject fields.
Perhaps if you "...please inform [REDACTED] MS IN PERSON, by US MAIL, by TELEPHONE at (703) 867-5309 or [by] E-MAIL" you will have more luck than I did in having me unsubscribed from the [Redacted] list.
Would you please try?
I'd prefer not to have to visit an [Redacted County Public Schools] website, retrieve a password I've long since forgotten, and unsubscribe in a manner that's
more inconvenient than replying to an email with an "unsubscribe" request,
unreasonable to request, and
quite possibly illegal for [Redacted MS] or [Redacted County Public Schools] to require.
In the meantime, if more continue to arrive, I won't respond with an "unsubscribe" request. Nor an "ubsubscribe" one.
I'll just mark it as junk.
If you choose to make the effort to change the practices I've complained of above, I wish you good luck.
If not, I wish you good luck anyway. You've got an awfully hard job. Although I imagine school personnel are less inclined to treat you as if you're an intransigent adolescent than they are to treat me as if I'm one.
Best regards,
David
David Itkin
redacted@hotmail.com
202-867-5309
Postscript: A very nice assistant superintendant called me a few hours later. I won't be getting any more emails from that [Redacted profane adjective], [Redacted gerund referring to reproduction] middle school any more.
Dear Superintendant [Redacted]:
I've tried a half dozen times to unsubscribe from a notification service about events at [Redacted Middle School], because my son is now a freshman at [Redacted High School].
Apparently, other parents of 9th graders have had the same problem. The "footer" at the bottom of all of the emails says that one can unsubscribe by calling a number, sending a letter or replying to the email.
In response to unsubscribe requests, a [Redacted Middle School] administrator sent out instructions for how to unsubscribe by logging into an [Redacted County Public Schools] account and changing ones preferences.
The email is "cut-and-pasted" below. I'll continue my narrative beneath it.
_______
> From: Redacted@redacted.edu
> To: Redacted@hotmail.com
> Date: Tue, 20 Sep 2011 07:13:11 -0700
> Subject: Ubsubscribe/Update Keep In Touch
>
>
> Parents/Guardians:
>
> We have received a number of requests to remove parents from the Keep In Touch system. The basic Keep In Touch system updates students that are enrolled in a school each year. If your child no longer attends [Redacted], but you are still receiving emails, you may be enrolled in Keep In Touch Plus. Please use the link below to find information about how to update your account. If you are enrolled in Keep In Touch plus, only you can remove yourself from the distribution list.
>
> www.redacted.edu/kit/#
>
> This page also includes a number that you may contact, if this removal process did not work for you.
>
>
> -----About this E-mail-----
>
> This e-mail has been sent to you by [REDACTED] MS. To maximize their communication with you, you may be receiving this e-mail in addition to a phone call with the same message. If you wish to discontinue this service, please inform [REDACTED] MS IN PERSON, by US MAIL, by TELEPHONE at (XXX) 867-5309 or REPLY TO THIS E-MAIL.
______
Instead of following the instructions to log in elsewhere, I again followed the instructions in the footer. That's how the federal law governing "spam" says I'm supposed to be able to unsubscribe. The whole point of the relevant part of the "CAN SPAM Act" is to make unsubscribing easier for the recipient. Its intent is reflected in the footer.
As a public school and public school system, [Redacted MS] and [Redacted County Public Schools] may be exempt from these requirements. I don't know. But if you are bound by them, ignoring them can be a costly business. You might want to consult an expert.
But even if you're exempt, sending out instructions that contradict themselves is a dumb thing to do. (So is failing to proofread the subject heading of a mass email, especially one that's bound to be unwelcome in the first place.)
My latest effort to unsubscribe --- the way the footer indicated that I could --- earned me a phone call from someone at [Redacted], to explain that the instructions in the body of the note were the only way to unsubscribe. I explained the things I've explained in the last three paragraphs.
My explanation was unwelcome. The caller reiterated that the instructions in the body of the text offered the only way to unsubscribe from the unwanted, and unwonted, emails. When pressed about the footer, the caller told me he could not control the footer and when I asked that he contact someone who could, he indicated that he couldn't get the footer changed. He insisted that the body of the text was the only salient information, and expressed some impatience with my unwillingness to accept this.
He also didn't take kindly to my suggestion about proofreading subject fields.
Perhaps if you "...please inform [REDACTED] MS IN PERSON, by US MAIL, by TELEPHONE at (703) 867-5309 or [by] E-MAIL" you will have more luck than I did in having me unsubscribed from the [Redacted] list.
Would you please try?
I'd prefer not to have to visit an [Redacted County Public Schools] website, retrieve a password I've long since forgotten, and unsubscribe in a manner that's
more inconvenient than replying to an email with an "unsubscribe" request,
unreasonable to request, and
quite possibly illegal for [Redacted MS] or [Redacted County Public Schools] to require.
In the meantime, if more continue to arrive, I won't respond with an "unsubscribe" request. Nor an "ubsubscribe" one.
I'll just mark it as junk.
If you choose to make the effort to change the practices I've complained of above, I wish you good luck.
If not, I wish you good luck anyway. You've got an awfully hard job. Although I imagine school personnel are less inclined to treat you as if you're an intransigent adolescent than they are to treat me as if I'm one.
Best regards,
David
David Itkin
redacted@hotmail.com
202-867-5309
Postscript: A very nice assistant superintendant called me a few hours later. I won't be getting any more emails from that [Redacted profane adjective], [Redacted gerund referring to reproduction] middle school any more.
Friday, March 25, 2011
Friday, March 18, 2011
Defense of Marriage?
Some have religious or philosphical objectuions to homosexual acts. I get that. I think they're profoundly wrong, but I get it.
However, I'm thoroughly flummoxed by how recognizing equal civil rights for homosexuals, including the right to marry, threatens heterosexual marriages. Are heterosexual marriages so weak that spouses will leave their heterosexual marriages in droves if they have the legal option to marry someone of their own gender? It seems unlikely.
"God hates fags" is not an answer. Not even for well-taught, fundamentalist Christians. They're taught that we're all sinners and must all hate the sin but love the sinner. In my view, "God hates fags" profanes G-d's holy name.
Arguments that claim homosexual marriage is at the top of a slippery slope leading to incest, pederasty and buggery are so silly, they merit little refutation beyond this:
The comparison is demogoguery --- simply a contemptible appeal to mindless bigotry.
So, could someone thoughtful person who believes opposition to homosexual marriage somehow "defends" marriage please explain.
It's a limited question. I'm not looking for an explanation of why some think homosexual marriage is wrong. As I said, I get why some believe that. I'm looking for an explanation of how that opposition "defends marriage."
However, I'm thoroughly flummoxed by how recognizing equal civil rights for homosexuals, including the right to marry, threatens heterosexual marriages. Are heterosexual marriages so weak that spouses will leave their heterosexual marriages in droves if they have the legal option to marry someone of their own gender? It seems unlikely.
"God hates fags" is not an answer. Not even for well-taught, fundamentalist Christians. They're taught that we're all sinners and must all hate the sin but love the sinner. In my view, "God hates fags" profanes G-d's holy name.
Arguments that claim homosexual marriage is at the top of a slippery slope leading to incest, pederasty and buggery are so silly, they merit little refutation beyond this:
The comparison is demogoguery --- simply a contemptible appeal to mindless bigotry.
So, could someone thoughtful person who believes opposition to homosexual marriage somehow "defends" marriage please explain.
It's a limited question. I'm not looking for an explanation of why some think homosexual marriage is wrong. As I said, I get why some believe that. I'm looking for an explanation of how that opposition "defends marriage."
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Solving a FaceBook Dilemma
OK, here's the thing. My mom was a beloved kindergarten teacher. I've accepted friend requests from guys I grew up with who I know weren't my friends. Because I knew my mom had taught them, and I guessed they wanted to send her regards/find out what became of her/see if she was still alive/thank her or what-have-you.
So far, my guess has always been right and I've been pleased to be able to facilitate the contact. My mom deserves every bit of the high regard her former students hold her in. The connections I've served as middleman for have been well worth the cognitive dissonance of "friending" guys who weren't my friends. These folks have gone out of their way to do a good thing. Maybe they've even grown. Maybe I have.
But a man's gotta draw a line somewhere. Mine is drawn at the joker who ruthlessly bullied me for most of my adolescence. Whose camp counsellors called him and his running buddy "Obnoxious and Violence."
Obnoxious has spent the better part of thirty years apologizing to people he hurt as a kid. We managed to work out an uneasy peace by our senior year and actually enjoyed one another's company at our 10th high school reunion. (It didn't hurt that he'd lost most of his hair by then and I hadn't. If someone wants to tell him I'm finally catching up on that score, be my guest.)
But Violence is a horse of a whole 'nother color. Or at least the southern portion of the horse. I've always taken great comfort in the fact that there was a whole continent and a whole ocean between us. I have no reason to think that, were we in the same zip code, both approaching fifty, the ass would still be sneaking up behind me and kicking the back of my knees out from under me.
I'm no pshrink, but I'd bet the ranch he was a sociopath then and I'm confident that level dysfunction doesn't magically disappear. Mothers of the Orient: lock up your daughters. Farmers of the Orient: play it safe, lock up your sheep.
So imagine my surprise when he turned up with a joke on a recent FB thread of mine. A joke that, for all the world to see, seemed to suggest we were old pals. At the time, I responded in kind, trying to be mature. Trying to let bygones be bygones.
I can't. Several wise friends have urged me to just let go of it. But I just can't.
So would someone who recognizes the story please let him know that if I ever saw him on fire, I wouldn't cross the street to piss on him. I'd do it myself, but I've just blocked his ass.
Call me petty, but I feel a lot better.
So far, my guess has always been right and I've been pleased to be able to facilitate the contact. My mom deserves every bit of the high regard her former students hold her in. The connections I've served as middleman for have been well worth the cognitive dissonance of "friending" guys who weren't my friends. These folks have gone out of their way to do a good thing. Maybe they've even grown. Maybe I have.
But a man's gotta draw a line somewhere. Mine is drawn at the joker who ruthlessly bullied me for most of my adolescence. Whose camp counsellors called him and his running buddy "Obnoxious and Violence."
Obnoxious has spent the better part of thirty years apologizing to people he hurt as a kid. We managed to work out an uneasy peace by our senior year and actually enjoyed one another's company at our 10th high school reunion. (It didn't hurt that he'd lost most of his hair by then and I hadn't. If someone wants to tell him I'm finally catching up on that score, be my guest.)
But Violence is a horse of a whole 'nother color. Or at least the southern portion of the horse. I've always taken great comfort in the fact that there was a whole continent and a whole ocean between us. I have no reason to think that, were we in the same zip code, both approaching fifty, the ass would still be sneaking up behind me and kicking the back of my knees out from under me.
I'm no pshrink, but I'd bet the ranch he was a sociopath then and I'm confident that level dysfunction doesn't magically disappear. Mothers of the Orient: lock up your daughters. Farmers of the Orient: play it safe, lock up your sheep.
So imagine my surprise when he turned up with a joke on a recent FB thread of mine. A joke that, for all the world to see, seemed to suggest we were old pals. At the time, I responded in kind, trying to be mature. Trying to let bygones be bygones.
I can't. Several wise friends have urged me to just let go of it. But I just can't.
So would someone who recognizes the story please let him know that if I ever saw him on fire, I wouldn't cross the street to piss on him. I'd do it myself, but I've just blocked his ass.
Call me petty, but I feel a lot better.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Monday, January 10, 2011
Sunday, December 26, 2010
A Bad Year? WTF?
Rescue of a collapsing economy.
Financial reform.
START ratification.
Abolition of don't ask don't tell.
WTF have my peers on the left been up to. Our job is to get out the story, not snipe from the sidelines. Maybe if we weren't such absolutists, disdainful of the give-and-take of democratic lawmaking, we could have avoided a shellacking in November.
As a progressive leader, Obama gets an A+.
As his natural constituency, we're lucky to get by with a C-.
Oh, yeah: And making the first U.S. presidency of a Black man almost a non-story for all but the most clueless or bigoted of Americans.
Criminey!
How 'bout a resolution to be better stewards of the liberal/progressive cause this year?
Imagine what he could do if we all pulled together.
Financial reform.
An orderly drawdown in Iraq.
Effective use of Predator drones in Afghanistan, Waziristan, Yemen, and anyplace else we could I.D. Al Queda.
Fearless defense of unpopular Mosque-building near the Ground Zero strip club and Ground Zero off-track-betting parlor.
Health care reform.START ratification.
Abolition of don't ask don't tell.
WTF have my peers on the left been up to. Our job is to get out the story, not snipe from the sidelines. Maybe if we weren't such absolutists, disdainful of the give-and-take of democratic lawmaking, we could have avoided a shellacking in November.
As a progressive leader, Obama gets an A+.
As his natural constituency, we're lucky to get by with a C-.
Oh, yeah: And making the first U.S. presidency of a Black man almost a non-story for all but the most clueless or bigoted of Americans.
Criminey!
How 'bout a resolution to be better stewards of the liberal/progressive cause this year?
Imagine what he could do if we all pulled together.
Friday, December 24, 2010
Season's Greetings 2010
This could prove helpful tomorrow if you're in some exotic locale like Tajikistan or Canada.
Don't you think Encore Presentation sounds much better than rerun? In any event, for those of you celebrating it:
Merry Christmas. And for everyone, I wish you happy, healthy, sweet and prosperous secular New Year.
I harvested most of these from here:
Merry Christmas (U.S.)
Happy Christmas (U.K.)
Gezur Krislinjden (Albanian)
Kamgan Ukudigaa (Aleut)
Melkam Yelidet Beaal (Amharic)
Idah Saidan Wa Sanah Jadidah (Arabic)
Feliz Navidad (Argentine)
Shenoraavor Nor Dari yev Pari Gaghand (Armenian)
Tezze Iliniz Yahsi Olsun (Azeri)
Luzihiro Lwa Krismas (Bantu - Kipare Dialect)
Kwa Beno Banso Bwanana (Bantu - Chinayanja)
Na Bino Banso Bonane (Bantu -Kikango)
Zorionak eta Urte Berri On! (Basque)
Shubho Barodin (Bengali)
Vesele Vanoce (Bohemian)
Boas Festas e Feliz Ano Novo (Brazilian)
Nedeleg laouen na bloavezh mat (Breton)
Tchestita Koleda; Tchestito Rojdestvo Hristovo (Bulgarian)
Bon Nadal i un Bon Any Nou (Catalan)
Feliz Navidad (Chile)
Gun Tso Sun Tan'Gung Haw Sun (Chinese - Cantonese)
Kung His Hsin Nien bing Chu Shen Tan (Chinese - Mandarin)
Yukpa, Nitak Hollo Chito (Choctaw)
Feliz Navidad y Próspero Año Nuevo (Columbia)
Nadelik looan na looan blethen noweth (Cornish)
Pace e salute (Corsican)
Sretan Bozic (Croatian)
Prejeme Vam Vesele Vanoce a stastny Novy Rok (Czech)
Glaedelig Jul (Danish)
Woof (Danish, Great)
Miet puou yan dhiedh Banyda tene Yin (Dinka)
Vrolijk Kerstfeest en een Gelukkig Nieuwjaar (Dutch)
Colo sana wintom tiebeen (Egyptian)
Gajan Kristnaskon (Esperanto)
Rõõmsaid Jõulupühi (Estonian)
Cristmas-e-shoma mobarak bashad (Farsi)
Hyvää Joulua or Hauskaa Joulua (Finnish)
Zalig Kerstfeest en Gelukkig nieuw jaar (Flemish)
Chchghrchrg (Phlegmish)
Joyeux Noël et Bonne Année (French)
Nollaig chridheil agus Bliadhna mhath ur (Gaelic)
Gilotsavt Krist'es Shobas (Georgian)
Merry Christmas, Y'all (Georgian)
Froehliche Weihnachten und ein gluckliches Neues Jahr (German)
Kala Christougenna Kieftihismenos O Kenourios Chronos (Greek)
Juullimi Ukiortaassamilu Pilluarit (Greenlandic)
Mele Kalikimaka (Hawaiian)
Shubh Naya Baras (Hindi)
Nyob Zoo Xyoo Tahiab (Hmong)
Kellemes Karacsonyiunnepeket & Boldog Új Évet (Hungarian)
Gledileg Jol og Farsaelt Komandi ar (Icelandic)
Selamat Hari Natal (Indonesian)
Idah Saidan Wa Sanah Jadidah (Iraqi)
Nollaig Shona Dhuit (Irish)
Ojenyunyat Sungwiyadeson honungradon nagwutut. Ojenyunyat osrasay (Iroquois)
Buon Natale e Felice Anno Nuovo (Italian)
Shinnen omedeto. Kurisumasu Omedeto (Japanese)
Sung Tan Chuk Ha (Korean - North)
Sung Tan Chuk Ha (Korean - South)
Seva piroz sahibe u sersala te piroz be (Kurdish)
Natale hilare et Annum Nuovo (Latin)
Erry-may Istmas-chray (Ig-pay Atin-lay)
Prieci'gus Ziemsve'tkus un Laimi'gu Jauno Gadu (Latvian)
Linksmu Kaledu (Lithuanian)
Streken Bozhik (Macedonian)
Nixtieklek Milied tajjeb u is-sena t-tabja (Maltese)
Meri Kirihimete (Maori)
Zul saryn bolon shine ony mend devshuulye (Mongolian)
Krist Yesu Ko Shuva Janma Utsav Ko Upalaxhma Hardik Shuva (Nepali)
God Jul og Godt Nyttår (Norwegian)
Bikpela hamamas blong dispela Krismas na Nupela yia i go long yu (Papua New Guinea) Maligayang Pasco at Manigong Bagong Taon (Philippines)
Wesolych Swiat Bozego Narodzenia (Polish)
Boas Festas e um feliz Ano Novo (Portuguese)
Nave sal di mubaraka (Punjabi)
Mata-Ki-Te-Rangi. Te-Pito-O-Te-Henua (Rapa-Nui - Easter Island)
Legreivlas fiastas da Nadal e bien niev onn! (Romanche - Sursilvan dialect)
Pozdrevlyayu s prazdnikom Rozhdestva is Novim Godom (Russian)
La Maunia Le Kilisimasi Ma Le Tausaga Fou (Samoan)
Bonu nadale e prosperu annu nou (Sardinian)
Gaelic Nollaig chridheil huibh (Scots)
Hristos se rodi (Serbian)
Subha nath thalak Vewa. Subha Aluth Awrudhak Vewa (Singhalese)
Vesele Vianoce. A stastlivy Novy Rok (Slovak)
Vesel Bozic in Srecno novo leto! (Slovenian)
Feliz Navidad y Próspero Año Nuevo (Spanish)
God Jul och Gott Nytt År (Swedish)
Wilujeng Natal Sareng Warsa Enggal (Sudanese)
Maligayang Pasko at Manigong Bagong Taon (Tagalog)
Ia ora i te Noere e ia ora na i te matahiti 'api (Tahitian)
Nathar Puthu Varuda Valthukkal (Tamil)
Suksan Wan Christmas lae Sawadee Pee Mai (Thai)
Kristo abe anduwe muciindo ca Christmas (Tonga)
Kilisimasi Fiefia (Tongan)
Noeliniz Ve Yeni Yiliniz Kutlu Olsun (Turkish)
Veseloho Vam Rizdva i Shchastlyvoho Novoho Roku (Ukranian)
Naya Saal Mubarak Ho (Urdu)
Bon Nadal i millor any nou (Valencian)
Chuc Mung Giang Sinh - Chuc Mung Tan Nien (Vietnamese)
Nadolig LLawen a Blwyddyn Newydd Dda (Welsh)
Gute Vaynakhtn un a Gut Nay Yor (Yiddish)
E ku odun, e ku iye'dun! (Yoruba)
Cestitamo Bozic (Yugoslavian)
Sinifesela Ukhisimusi Omuhle Nonyaka Omusha Onempumelelo (Zulu)
G-d Bless Us, Every One - Dickens.
Don't you think Encore Presentation sounds much better than rerun? In any event, for those of you celebrating it:
Merry Christmas. And for everyone, I wish you happy, healthy, sweet and prosperous secular New Year.
I harvested most of these from here:
Merry Christmas (U.S.)
Happy Christmas (U.K.)
Gezur Krislinjden (Albanian)
Kamgan Ukudigaa (Aleut)
Melkam Yelidet Beaal (Amharic)
Idah Saidan Wa Sanah Jadidah (Arabic)
Feliz Navidad (Argentine)
Shenoraavor Nor Dari yev Pari Gaghand (Armenian)
Tezze Iliniz Yahsi Olsun (Azeri)
Luzihiro Lwa Krismas (Bantu - Kipare Dialect)
Kwa Beno Banso Bwanana (Bantu - Chinayanja)
Na Bino Banso Bonane (Bantu -Kikango)
Zorionak eta Urte Berri On! (Basque)
Shubho Barodin (Bengali)
Vesele Vanoce (Bohemian)
Boas Festas e Feliz Ano Novo (Brazilian)
Nedeleg laouen na bloavezh mat (Breton)
Tchestita Koleda; Tchestito Rojdestvo Hristovo (Bulgarian)
Bon Nadal i un Bon Any Nou (Catalan)
Feliz Navidad (Chile)
Gun Tso Sun Tan'Gung Haw Sun (Chinese - Cantonese)
Kung His Hsin Nien bing Chu Shen Tan (Chinese - Mandarin)
Yukpa, Nitak Hollo Chito (Choctaw)
Feliz Navidad y Próspero Año Nuevo (Columbia)
Nadelik looan na looan blethen noweth (Cornish)
Pace e salute (Corsican)
Sretan Bozic (Croatian)
Prejeme Vam Vesele Vanoce a stastny Novy Rok (Czech)
Glaedelig Jul (Danish)
Woof (Danish, Great)
Miet puou yan dhiedh Banyda tene Yin (Dinka)
Vrolijk Kerstfeest en een Gelukkig Nieuwjaar (Dutch)
Colo sana wintom tiebeen (Egyptian)
Gajan Kristnaskon (Esperanto)
Rõõmsaid Jõulupühi (Estonian)
Cristmas-e-shoma mobarak bashad (Farsi)
Hyvää Joulua or Hauskaa Joulua (Finnish)
Zalig Kerstfeest en Gelukkig nieuw jaar (Flemish)
Chchghrchrg (Phlegmish)
Joyeux Noël et Bonne Année (French)
Nollaig chridheil agus Bliadhna mhath ur (Gaelic)
Gilotsavt Krist'es Shobas (Georgian)
Merry Christmas, Y'all (Georgian)
Froehliche Weihnachten und ein gluckliches Neues Jahr (German)
Kala Christougenna Kieftihismenos O Kenourios Chronos (Greek)
Juullimi Ukiortaassamilu Pilluarit (Greenlandic)
Mele Kalikimaka (Hawaiian)
Shubh Naya Baras (Hindi)
Nyob Zoo Xyoo Tahiab (Hmong)
Kellemes Karacsonyiunnepeket & Boldog Új Évet (Hungarian)
Gledileg Jol og Farsaelt Komandi ar (Icelandic)
Selamat Hari Natal (Indonesian)
Idah Saidan Wa Sanah Jadidah (Iraqi)
Nollaig Shona Dhuit (Irish)
Ojenyunyat Sungwiyadeson honungradon nagwutut. Ojenyunyat osrasay (Iroquois)
Buon Natale e Felice Anno Nuovo (Italian)
Shinnen omedeto. Kurisumasu Omedeto (Japanese)
Sung Tan Chuk Ha (Korean - North)
Sung Tan Chuk Ha (Korean - South)
Seva piroz sahibe u sersala te piroz be (Kurdish)
Natale hilare et Annum Nuovo (Latin)
Erry-may Istmas-chray (Ig-pay Atin-lay)
Prieci'gus Ziemsve'tkus un Laimi'gu Jauno Gadu (Latvian)
Linksmu Kaledu (Lithuanian)
Streken Bozhik (Macedonian)
Nixtieklek Milied tajjeb u is-sena t-tabja (Maltese)
Meri Kirihimete (Maori)
Zul saryn bolon shine ony mend devshuulye (Mongolian)
Krist Yesu Ko Shuva Janma Utsav Ko Upalaxhma Hardik Shuva (Nepali)
God Jul og Godt Nyttår (Norwegian)
Bikpela hamamas blong dispela Krismas na Nupela yia i go long yu (Papua New Guinea) Maligayang Pasco at Manigong Bagong Taon (Philippines)
Wesolych Swiat Bozego Narodzenia (Polish)
Boas Festas e um feliz Ano Novo (Portuguese)
Nave sal di mubaraka (Punjabi)
Mata-Ki-Te-Rangi. Te-Pito-O-Te-Henua (Rapa-Nui - Easter Island)
Legreivlas fiastas da Nadal e bien niev onn! (Romanche - Sursilvan dialect)
Pozdrevlyayu s prazdnikom Rozhdestva is Novim Godom (Russian)
La Maunia Le Kilisimasi Ma Le Tausaga Fou (Samoan)
Bonu nadale e prosperu annu nou (Sardinian)
Gaelic Nollaig chridheil huibh (Scots)
Hristos se rodi (Serbian)
Subha nath thalak Vewa. Subha Aluth Awrudhak Vewa (Singhalese)
Vesele Vianoce. A stastlivy Novy Rok (Slovak)
Vesel Bozic in Srecno novo leto! (Slovenian)
Feliz Navidad y Próspero Año Nuevo (Spanish)
God Jul och Gott Nytt År (Swedish)
Wilujeng Natal Sareng Warsa Enggal (Sudanese)
Maligayang Pasko at Manigong Bagong Taon (Tagalog)
Ia ora i te Noere e ia ora na i te matahiti 'api (Tahitian)
Nathar Puthu Varuda Valthukkal (Tamil)
Suksan Wan Christmas lae Sawadee Pee Mai (Thai)
Kristo abe anduwe muciindo ca Christmas (Tonga)
Kilisimasi Fiefia (Tongan)
Noeliniz Ve Yeni Yiliniz Kutlu Olsun (Turkish)
Veseloho Vam Rizdva i Shchastlyvoho Novoho Roku (Ukranian)
Naya Saal Mubarak Ho (Urdu)
Bon Nadal i millor any nou (Valencian)
Chuc Mung Giang Sinh - Chuc Mung Tan Nien (Vietnamese)
Nadolig LLawen a Blwyddyn Newydd Dda (Welsh)
Gute Vaynakhtn un a Gut Nay Yor (Yiddish)
E ku odun, e ku iye'dun! (Yoruba)
Cestitamo Bozic (Yugoslavian)
Sinifesela Ukhisimusi Omuhle Nonyaka Omusha Onempumelelo (Zulu)
G-d Bless Us, Every One - Dickens.
Monday, December 20, 2010
Thank a Service Member
If you go here, you can pick out a thank you card and Xerox will print it and have it sent to a service member deployed overseas
It's free and it only takes a few seconds. Wouldn't it be wonderful if our troops received a bunch of these?
Whether you support or oppose their deployment, the folks who volunteer to put themselves in harm's way on our behalf need to know we are support THEM.
Please take the time to do this mitzvah and please take the time to pass this link on to others.
Thanks.
It's free and it only takes a few seconds. Wouldn't it be wonderful if our troops received a bunch of these?
Whether you support or oppose their deployment, the folks who volunteer to put themselves in harm's way on our behalf need to know we are support THEM.
Please take the time to do this mitzvah and please take the time to pass this link on to others.
Thanks.
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Beefcake & Cheesecake
I posted these albums on FaceBook. They were found objectionable. What do you think?
Beefcake
Cheesecake
Beefcake
Cheesecake
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
TSA is DUMB
An article detailing how one of the Mythbusters got through a TSA pat-down carrying 12 razors sparked some surprise when I posted it on Facebook with this comment:
"Intrusive, ridiculous and ineffectual.
El Al planes never blow up.
Can we PLEASE send some senior TSA officials to Ben-Gurion for a month?
Can we please make sure the ones we send aren't dolts?
I ♥ Mythbusters!"
Here's the original article:
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/11/adam-savage-tsa-saw-my-junk-missed-12-razor-blades.ars
I responded on FB to the surprise, but I like what I wrote well enough to reiterate it here.
"El Al foils bad guys with multiple, one-on-one conversations, in concentric layers before one gets anywhere near an airplane. They get in your face, literally, to look for things like dilating pupils, changes in skin coloration, twitches, tics and (I hope) a bunch of attributes that haven't found their way into the press. Often the questions don't matter anywhere near as much as the reaction, especially the reaction while under additional stress.
Undoubtedly, some of the attributes Israelis screen for would be suspect under U.S. law, including most especially our Bill of Rights. But many, I daresay most, would not.
Because the current protocol is ineffectual, it is ridiculous. If it was useful, I might not be so outraged.
The Bill of Rights protects against unlawful search and seizure, too.
Balancing these two fundamental rights (not to be profiled vs. not forcing Grandma to choose between being felt up by a stranger or ogled naked by a stranger) might be a hard call if the physical intrusion actually worked.
But the Mythbuster proved that it doesn't. So it's an easy call. There's nothing on the sexual assault side of the scale. On the EL Al-style countermeasures side, especially if the countermeasures are implemented by officials more sensitive to the requirements of our Constitution than Israel must be, the weight is tremendous.
Please note, I do not call for subcontracting our protection out to El Al security. I just want some non-dolts from the upper levels of TSA to spend a month at Ben-Gurion and see what parts of the Israeli approach could work in America.
I understand your surprise. I'm a knee-jerk, bleeding-heart ACLU-nik, and I have friends who've been stopped for DWB (Driving While Black). Still, civil liberties vs. security is a false dichotomy here.
We need to learn what we can from the Israelis, decide what we can't do as Americans, and implement protocols that actually protect us. What we're doing now violates the first rule of holes.
If you're in one --- stop digging."
What do you think?
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Monday, November 8, 2010
LBJ and the Shackled Runner
Imagine a hundred-yard dash in which one of the two runners has his legs shackled together. He has progressed ten yards, while the unshackled runner has gone fifty yards. At that point the judges decide that the race is unfair. How do they rectify the situation? Do they merely remove the shackles and allow the race to proceed? Then they could say that "equal opportunity" now prevailed. But one of the runners would still be forty yards ahead of the other. Would it not be the better part of justice to allow the previously shackled runner to make up the forty-yard gap, or to start the race all over again? That would be affirmative action toward equality.
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