Monday, February 9, 2009

TRS tagged

I was tagged by Mr. Rationally Pious to fill out Nemo's "25 things about me" thingie. Joy. Seriously, have you ever seen one of these things that wanted 25 facts? Usually they want like 8. And why no questions? I'm just supposed to make things up on the spot? But...I'll do it anyway, because I'm such a nice guy. I will make a change to the format though: just give us one fact from each year of your life, which in my case would make for 22 facts, and then make up the remaining facts with your favorite food, color, whatever. Everyone got that? Excellent. Let's begin.

1. I was born on a cold Thursday morning in beautiful Boston, MA, on the 12th of February, 1987, meaning I share birthdays with Abraham Lincoln, Charles Darwin, and the Boston metro system, which incidentally first started running 100 years before I was whelped. BTW, that translates into 13 Shevat, 5747 for all those keeping count.

2. I don't remember much about this year. As far as I know my family moved to Mequon, WI, otherwise known as the place which used to have really incredible kiddushes.

3. My upshernish was the first one to take place at Chabad of the North Shore's Mequon location (the Rapaport's basement). They took away my orange soda when it was time for the hair cutting. I'm still traumatized. I seem to recall that Mrs. Shmotkin was the first to take a snip, but I could be wrong.

4. This was the year the Twins, my favorite baseball team, won the greatest World Series ever played. I don't remember a single thing about it, and I wouldn't be a fan for another decade... oh well. The banner looks nice.

5. Kindergarten. In Hillel Academy. I remember doing a rehearsal for our class chanuka party and chanie shechtman faked an injury to get a call...I mean a chocolate chip cookie. Sick, isn't it? These girls always get sympathy.

6. My best friend at the time was Levi Litvin, and I vividly remember the whole neighborhood searching for him when he wouldn't come out from his hiding place in a game of hide and seek. They had just brought out the police dogs when he came out, thinking he had won. Which I suppose he did. That night we ate hot dogs. You see, I remember the important things.

7. 2nd grade was miserable, because the Litvins moved to Kfar Chabad so that their father, Jay A"H, could work for Chabad's Children of Chernobyl. That year my Hebrew teacher would ask each of us in school how we were doing, but she stopped doing so for me a couple months in, because all I'd ever say was that I was depressed, because my best friend Levi had moved away.

8. For one glorious year I got a new friend, Ira, whose imagination and intelligence was only matched by my willingness to go along with whatever it was he proposed. We used to go to the ladies class every shabbos and take as much candy as possible before we were kicked out. The Spalters, I recall, had the best spread.

9. We moved to Minnesota the day before I started 4th grade at a new school, the Lubavitch Cheder Day School, with all new classmates and whatnot. For a long time I hated Minnesota, but after a while I got used to it, and now I think I can honestly say that the word love might come into the conversation.

10. My third school in three years, Torah Academy, in S. Louis Park. I didn't particularly like my time there, though it is where I became a Packers fan. So I suppose it was helpful.

11. I started my bar mitzvah lessons a year and a week before the big day; that first week I mentioned that the next would be my birthday, and Rabbi Goldstein nearly fell off his chair. "What? You want to learn the whole leining in a week!?" He was only slightly mollified when informed of the actual timeline.

12. I went away to sleep away camp for the first time, Gan Israel Montreal, with my best friend Ira and the most awesomest counselor in the whole wide world, Yossi Bryski (he's the only guy I ever met who lived up to "Normal is Boring") Since I had requested to be in Ira's bunk, and he was in the BT/frie kids bunk, I ended up there too. It was great. We did whatever we wanted, because who's going to tell a frie kid not to so something?
In addition, a big shout to Yossi Bendet, the only person I knew when I got off the bus (Ira only came that night), who took me to canteen and bought me a coke. I still appreciate the gesture.

13. I became Bar Mitzvah. Let's see: read parshas beshalach (which includes the shirah), did the longest haftora of the year, davened shacharis and mussaf, and said the bar mitzvah maamar, in Hebrew, by the kiddush luncheon. Exactly one year later, to the day, my father's father passed away. I still miss him.

14. Graduation from Torah Academy. Woohoo! I gave by far the best (funniest) speech by it, but it was stuck way in the end of the program for some obscure reason. Miss Hollerich, I'm not sure if I've forgiven you for this one yet.

15. First year in mesifta, the Lubavitch Yeshiva of Minnesota-Wexler Learning Institute. I think I learned more about life and less about Judaism in that one year than any other so far. Yeah, it was an education. One thing I learned was not to predict to boastfully that the Packers would trounce the Vikings, because those guys in Yeshiva can be vicious...

16. The year I started keeping my diary, 03/03/03. If anyone wants to read all the embarrassing things it contains (believe you me, it won't
disappoint in that department) then be my guest, because even I can't read my own handwriting. How my biographers will manage is anyone's guess.

17. My first year at Yeshiva Ohr Elchonon Chabad. Possibly the best school year I ever had. Rabbi Mendy Schapiro for chassidus, Yankee Majesky my nigleh chavrusa, Shmuelie Gourarie for chassidus at night, Nissy Gansbourg chassidus on shabbos mornings, Shua Lustig teaching rambam...suffice it to say that my brain was stuffed full of all sorts of good Jewish shtuff.

18. The Rosh used to give his shiur a test on motzei shabbos. Once I said an answer from two pages back, and he screamed at me, in front of the whole zal, "I'm going to kill you!" He then turned around to look for a suitable weapon in his shtender, and Schneur Wilhelm whispered the correct answer to me, which I immediately relayed to the Rosh. Lucky for you people, otherwise TRS would never have been born.

19. My first year in Morristown. I used to stay up until two every morning talking about Brazilian politics with one of the smicha bochurim (Yasha Dayan) in the library.

20. Started this here blog when I was in Kansas on Merkos Shlichus. Hey, better than my chavrusa there, who started a facebook account.

21. Shlichus in Minnesota. I did a lot of dumb things, and yet at the end of the year everyone still thought I was the holy holy holy shliach who sat in zal all day and learned. Heck, the guys still think that. I love first month's impressions.

22. Smicha in Morristown...who knows what the current year will bring?

23. So how am I a Twins fan and yet I hate the Vikings? Simple. I only became a Packers fan l'hachis all the Vikings fans in Torah Academy, and in that respect 1998 was probably the best year ever. I became a Twins fan in 2001 when they started winning for the first time in nearly a decade. Until then I never knew the joy of listening to a west coast game extra-innings game at 1:30 when bedtime is at 9:30...sometimes I wish bedtime was still at 9:30.

24. I haven't missed a day of Chitas or Rambam since a week before Purim when I was in Shiur Aleph mesista.

25. I still don't get that guy for Second Hand Fitness' slogan, "Why buy new when second hand will do-except when the prices are this good!"

Ok, Real and Wright, it's your turn to shine.

122 comments:

le7 said...

2. They still have decent kiddushes, but LH's are better.

5. The loshon hora!!!

6. There's a Litvin on shlichus in Mequon... are the related to the proverbial one you speak of?

10. Packers fan? In Minnesota? Scandalous.

19. Doesn't change much eh?

20. Blogger and facebook are comparable at this point.

le7 said...

2. Truthfully I don't know. I only spent one Shabbos there two years ago.

e said...

TRS, if you'd stop worrying about wasting all your time online (you do that already anyways) and got yourself a facebook account, you could read my 25 things.

And how did you get tagged without facebook?

le7, when's yours coming out?

le7 said...

Good question. I think after my first Chemistry exam of the semester. I guess I should start studying for that or something.

Should I keep it exclusively on facebook or should I blog it is the question.

e said...

when's this exam? How long do you think we can wait, lady?

btw, it doesn't take that long. It's supposed to be random, so in-depth thinking in not required.

le7 said...

Yeah but if you knew...

(I didn't even start learning the material and it's Wednesday evening. In between then I have to do a ton of work for other classes, completely clean out my basement and move out for 5 days and squeeze work with commenting in there).

How about tomorrow night if I'm sufficiently accomplished by midnight?

e said...

le7, I feel your pain. my motto in these situations is "schoolwork uber alles."

le7 said...

Yeah I agree. I just wish I had the self control to live up to it...

Nemo said...

TRS only presumed to be tagged, when, in fact, no one cared about that old hag.

e said...

le7: when i say uber alles, i really mean uber alles. tell the whole world to buzz off, because you have a chemistry exam

le7 said...

I agree. I'm just not getting into the buzz off mode.

Last semester, when I had an exam, the sun stopped, work did not exist, there was no news, the stock market was frozen...

For some reason I'm in total denial this time around.

le7 said...

Ah I know why. Blogging. Dang it.

e said...

When i had finals, I had gmail mark all blog-related letters as read, and forgot all about the blogosphere. c'mon, you can do it! DOn't even respond to this comment! Hop right off the computer, and into your chemistry book!

le7 said...

Actually I'm reading Proffer's criticism of Pushkin's "The Queen of Spades."

(Haha I sound like an intellectual).

e said...

whatever. just hop into it. SCHOOLWORK UBER ALLES (anyone know if I'm spelling it correctly?)

le7 said...

You're spelling it correctly.

Just like a guy said...

Actually nemo, rational pious dude tagged me on his blog.
LE7: yeah, yaakov is Levi's older brother.

e said...

go me. not get your nose into a book

e said...

so this is going around the blogosphere? How do you tag someone in a blog?

Just like a guy said...

Simple. Tell them they've been tagged. As I tried with real and wright. Except that he immediately communicated his non-willingness to do so.
Eliezer, can I post yours?

e said...

Apparantly le7 took my advice. good for her!

trs, y'talking to me? or to wright and real? no, you cannot post my list online. don't even dream of it.

le7 said...

Nope, sadly, still reading the comments.

e said...

to quote the kings james bible, "get thee out of this here blog"

le7 said...

I didn't think you had the right to kick me out unless e. stands for "The Almighty Editor."

Just like a guy said...

e: yours.
LE7: it does, and he still doesn't have the right to do so.

e said...

I'm merely forcefully expressing some good advice. But force I shall not force. Your company is always welcome...

le7 said...

Truthfully he is right.

e., want to be my study coach or somethin'?

Real and Wright said...

TRS - Thanks for asking. No, you can't post anything about me. If you're that desperate to post, post another 25 things about yourself.

And tag someone else.

Just like a guy said...

Real: I don't want to post anything about you. I want you to post about you. Sheesh, you people are slow.

e said...

le7, to quote farbrengers worldwide "I'm speaking to myself, but you can listen in." I have a mound of chemistry work waiting for me.

Just like a guy said...

All you losers out there in the real world...

le7 said...

You're taking Chemistry too?? Which one? What are you learning right now? Now we're learning kinetics and I have a ton of ln equations to memorize.

Truthfully right now I need to read 70 pages about Japanese culture.

Real and Wright said...

TRS, you wrote, "can I post yours?"

Just like a guy said...

Real: that was to e, who indicated that he'd already written one on facebook.

Anonymous said...

I'm taking the basic Chem I. Right now I'm doing stiochemtry or something. I haven't heard it pronounced yet, but tomorrow night i get to hear all about it from my bearded, turbaned, southeast asian professor. joy.

I'm still very confused about the very basic stuff like naming ionic compounds and understanding formulas which tell you the structure of the compound (i forgot what they're called). Complicated unit conversions still freak me out. There's all this stuff that "everyone" learned in high school. well, I'm not everyone. And I'm lost.

Just like a guy said...

You're smart. You'll figure it out.

Anonymous said...

does chemistry really involve plain old fashioned memorization? That sound horrifically not fun and doesn't make me look forward to learning more chem.

Anonymous said...

TRS: I will, but after how much pain and aggravation?

Just like a guy said...

As it says in job, man is born to suffer as the sparks fly upward.

le7 said...

AHHH I love the stuff you're doing. I'll help you with your homework if you want. Stoichiometry.

I hadn't heard of unit conversions until this summer. What is your text? Do you have to do online homework? Unit conversions aka dimensional analysis I only mastered because the first week my professor assigned 120 or so online DA problems.

The truth is, with chemistry, if you study and do the amount of practice problems you should be doing you end up memorizing the equations, constants, atomic masses, formulas etc. without trying.

Dovid said...

RE #24- What does never missed mean? That you always do them on the day they're due, or that you have always made up what you missed?

Just like a guy said...

For example, on erev tisha b'av I have sometimes forgotten to finish before the deadline. And then yes, I have made made it up asap.

Anarchist Chossid said...

Don’t memorize anything. Practice. And try to understand the concepts. Science is intuitive — it’s not mesoira.

Dovid said...

TRS- Your a dugma chaya.
CA- IMHO, science is at least 50% memorization. At least.

le7 said...

Dovid - I feel like that's not true. I think CA and I made this point.

If you're putting the proper effort into learning and understanding the concepts and practicing then you don't need to memorize... I spent very little time memorizing last semester.

Anarchist Chossid said...

For the most part, science is not about facts but about relationships. A bit like, lehavdil, Chassidus. Sure, you need to know (i.e., memorize) what eser spheros hagnuzos are, but you won’t really understand what they are until you sit down and think.

Some parts, like nomenclature, are memorized, sure. But even then — understanding what they are helps. I had a crazy professor for brain anatomy. We were given a level of brain and expected to know all structures visible on a slice going through that level. Knowing the function of the structures helped. But some people just stupidly memorized the names.

e said...

le7, thanks for the offer.

I'm sure that when I said "unit conversion" I meant something completely different than when your DA. I'm talking basic, basic stuff, like converting cm3 into kg and that kind of stuff.

Anarchist Chossid said...

That would be very difficult.

e said...

converting cm3 to kg? It's no big deal if you know the substance's density.

Anarchist Chossid said...

e, e-mail me, I'll provide you with an excellent trick.

See also this.

Anarchist Chossid said...

cm³ is a unit of volume.
kg is a unit of mass.

Therefore, when I say it's "difficult" to convert one to another, I mean "impossible".

e said...

if you're given the density then you can.

Anarchist Chossid said...

You are talking about calculating mass of a particular substance if you know its volume and density. It’s not the same as converting volume into mass.

Conversion means you are just changing units or unit prefixes. When I say 100 cm or 1 m, I am saying exactly same thing. Like saying "second chapter of Bava Metzia" or "Eilu metzios". (Sorry for stupid example.)

On the other hand, calculation means finding out one variable if you know the other and relationship between them. E.g., if one yeshiva bochur requires two bottles of mashka per farbrengen, and you have 20 bochrim coming to a farbie, then you need 40 bottles of mashka. It doesn’t mean that you converted 20 bochurim into 40 bottles.

e said...

I humbly defer before your superior knowledge.

did you get my e-mail?

Unknown said...

Yes.

I know another one of you. Any relation?

e said...

there are four of us.

Rationally pious said...

TRS, I think what you did was quite cowardly, I find it amusing that people are quite when they are meant to be loud, and loud when they should be quite.

It seems you are scared of your own shadow.

Do it again and this time say 20 things about yourself, not your family history.

Anarchist Chossid said...

I know the one who is a salesman.

Anyway, I'll e-mail you with my trick when I have a little more time.

le7 said...

Dimensional Analysis is the same as unit conversions. It's the method by doing.

Dimensional analysis would be let's say you have 30 grams of Na, and you want to figure out how many atoms that is, so you convert that to moles and then to atoms.

Same thing.

Cheerio said...

well, that was interesting.
RP - if you didn't realize some very significant things were revealed - TRS has a diary??

Dovid said...

CA and LE7: I agree with what your saying, but that all falls into the 50% understanding part. In undergrad where you learn the basics, maybe its more understanding that memorization. But especially now in med school its lots of memorization. We understand the fundamentals of science now we need to memorize all of the specific details.

Pharmacology- close to 90% memorization, memorize the drug names and memorize what class they fall into. Flash card time. Understanding what a drug class does is not enough, you need to memorize the names.

Anatomy- CA is right, learn the function, but hes wrong in that you must memorize the names. This is the trapezius, this is the greater splanchnic, etc, etc, etc.
Again about 80% memorization.

Immunology- more understanding stuff, but still the lecturerer often just says memorize the differences between all the cytokines and they all have almost identical names like IL1, IL2, IL3, IL4, etc. Also there are like 200CD protiens to memorize. CD1, CD2...CD200

Microbio- Prob the least memorization, but still gotta use memorize to some degree for cycles.

So yes there is lots of memorization in my experience. True the longer your dealing with these molecules/drugs/body parts/info it kind of sticks in the brain, but still you gotta memorize.

Dovid said...

Conversly, the humanities barely require memorization, very different.

And thats the honest truth, despite what your teachers will tell you. "I dont want you to memorize, I want you to understand" really means "I dont want you to only memorize, I also want you to understand".

Dovid said...

Actually, I take back that thing about humanities, history is all memorizing dates etc.

le7 said...

Pharmacy is memorization?

Shoot.

Dovid said...

LE7- my roommate is in pharmacy school, ALL he does is memorize. I.E. flashcards and mnemonics.

Anarchist Chossid said...

Dovid, I agree. In undergrad and graduate school, it’s how I described it, but from what I hear, in med. school it’s a lot of memorization. That’s why they make Orgo required for pre-med students and then sometimes make it artificially harder to weed out those who are not capable of memorization.

All of this is why I hated Orgo, pre-med students and why I would hate med school (besides the fact that I wouldn’t do research).

le7 said...

Well that sucks. (I'm a Chem major with plans for Pharmacy school).

Anarchist Chossid said...

Anatomy- CA is right, learn the function, but hes wrong in that you must memorize the names. This is the trapezius, this is the greater splanchnic, etc, etc, etc.

What I mean was that knowing function of a structure provides context, which is good for memorization. May be more applicable to your neuro class than, say, general anatomy.

Plus, everyone has different memory.

Yes, pharmo is to a large degree memorization.

Yeech, it’s all coming back to me. I am glad I am not taking classes. I wouldn’t survive med school or law school.

Dovid said...

CA- agreed. But med school is not a stirah to research, I do research.
LE7- don't worry about it. Like I said, flash cards and mnemonics.

Dovid said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
le7 said...

Yeah I guess so.

le7 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Dovid said...

Pious- I disagree, I thought this was a charming post, learned a lot about TRS, more that I would ever want to divulge.
BTW, I dont think the point of blogging is to see who can inflict the most damage on their reputation and reveal the most painful personal details. To me its more about socializing and fun entertainment.

TRS- What happened to your friends Ira and Levi, do you still keep in touch at all? Reminds me of long lost childhood friends.

Dovid said...

Oh and mazal tov on your yom huledes. Maybe you can still bentch us for a good year.

Just like a guy said...

Pious: what's your problem?
Cheerio: you didn't know that?
Dovid: Levi I didn't see for twelve years or something, and then we caught up by his brother's wedding, which was really nice.
Ira I chat with every week.
You want blessings? I give you a blessing that you shouldn't waste as much time as I do online and instead do something useful with your life.

Dovid said...

Amen, thank you

bonne said...

hah, amen to that. lets see if it'll happen...

Anonymous said...

Amen.

Re the actual topic I'm not going into any of those sciences because I hate memorization among other things. Instead I'm majoring in computer science where it's all understanding.

Anarchist Chossid said...

Of course, it’s not science, strictly speaking.

Anarchist Chossid said...

Dovid, yes, it’s possible to do research in medical field, but it’s for medical purposes, not lishmah. Which is OK, just not something I am more interested in. Of course, it’s also possible to do lishmah — as it’s possible to practice medicine and be a professional glass blower, but then your attention is somewhat diverted.

The difference is like in the case of Kabbala and Chassidus. Except in case of Chassidus, you sometimes get greater insights into the anatomy of s"h than in Kabbala (may also be a factor of time, though).

Anarchist Chossid said...

Well, the only mnemonic we use in Neuro is for 12 cranial nerves (“On old Olympic towering top, a Fin and German saw a Giant”). Everything else can just be memorized with a great degree of conceptualization.

e said...

I'm going for math. I haven't learned anything advanced, but it seems to me that in math understanding what you're doing really makes all the difference.

If you don't understand, you'll need to memorize lots of formulas, but if you do understand, all the formulas will seems obvious to you.

Yay! Go math!

le7 said...

I say e. I have to agree with you.

Pity I don't put enough effort to understand so I do a lot of memorization to make up for it.

Anonymous said...

Of course it isn't. Well known rule of the English language: If it needs a science in the name it isn't.

Computer Science
Political Science
Library Science

Custodial Engineering
Social Engineering
Communications Engineering

Dovid said...

CA- FYI learning science lishmah is metameh your moiach. If you're gonna be fry and go to college at least don't do it lishmah, do it for parnasah or something else.

e and LE7- yup math makes sense not much memorization. Bederech clal BA=understand BS=memorize like a robot. But what do you plan to do with you BA in math?

Anarchist Chossid said...

Lehatchilo, I don’t see a reason to go to college at all. For sure do science (do business or law). For sure as a profession.

Bediyeved, if you are doing science already, do science. You can do fundamental science for parnasa purposes.

You think you should become a doctor for parnasah purposes only? Eibeshter should help I should never get to go to such a doctor.

Anarchist Chossid said...

BS=memorize like a robot

If you are a pre-med. Because in pre-med and med schools they make robots out of people. Kills all intellect or imagination. Nobody who thought like a robot would survive grad school — and most people in grad schools have B.S. (in fact, even those who come to grad school from Math or computer science majors also probably have B.S.).

Dovid said...

"You think you should become a doctor for parnasah purposes only?"

Come on CA I never said that:
I said "do it for parnasah or something else." I only mentioned parnasah specifically b/c the Alter Rebbe mentions it.

Basically, I'm saying, don't learn science for the sake of learning science. If your learning it for parnasah that fine, if your learning it lishmah your metamey your moiach.

Dovid said...

"If you are a pre-med. Because in pre-med and med schools they make robots out of people. Kills all intellect or imagination."- that's what i've been saying all along!

"Nobody who thought like a robot would survive grad school"- not too sure about that one, generally speaking though, for grad school you need to be much less robotish.

Anarchist Chossid said...

I am saying, there are two levels of lishmah. First, you are learning science to know about the world (either b/c you’re an apikoires, or b/c you want to learn about Eibeshter’s world — in any case, you’re right you metamey your mind, unless you do it like Rambam, so that you can learn Torah from science, which I don’t believe is possible in our generation — at least for me; at least lehatchilo there is not excuse).

Second, you are learning science for parnasah. It happened that Eibeshter arranged in such a way that science is your job, r"l. Nu, what now? You can now learn science in such a way that it broadens humanity’s knowledge about the world (fundamental science) or in such a way that it helps humanity develop a new drug, a new way to suture a vessel, a new way to unblock a stroke, etc.

Both directions you can be doing for parnasa. Now, which to pick? Obviously it depends on your interest. Also, if you want to do a greater help to humanity (although, why would you, as a Jew?), you should pick the first one. Obviously, from the point of view of having more time for Torah and less attention to your work (let your hands do your work), you should pick the second one. Unless, you’re like me, and you can only do any sort of decent job at something you care about, including b’gashmius. Then you should go back to picking whatever interests you.

But I say: go into diamond business instead.

Cheerio said...

e - and this is the reason why i hate my high school math teacher.

Dovid said...

We pretty much agree then, except I say go into the plumbing business.

Also I differ with you in that I think if you "want to do a greater help to humanity", you should pick the second one: eradicate malaria, develop the aids vaccine, find the cure to diabetes.

Anarchist Chossid said...

Yeah, but to do those things you need to understand about the nature of biology. Obviously, someone should do the actual applied step, but one fundamental scientist’s discovery gives opportunity to one hundred applied scientists to better the world in actuality.

Anarchist Chossid said...

Re: plumbing business — read my post about what’s in your hand.

Yossi said...

24 is pretty impressive. does this include making up for missed days? or you haven't gone to sleep before finishing that day's?
and has this continued?

Just like a guy said...

Used to be the latter, now it's the former, and BH, yes it is.

e said...

Wow. I acted rather obnoxious there in the early comments. Sorry, le7!

Just like a guy said...

Just conforming to nature.

Anarchist Chossid said...

When I read something I’ve written in the past, I find that I was smarter than I am right now and cared more about things than I do right now.

Not a good sign...

It’s funny, someone asked me over the Shabbos what I want to do in my science career. I answered: “What I think right now I want to do and what I will think after I, iyH, get married are probably two different things.”

Anarchist Chossid said...

Каким образом получаются знания о морали? Как в физике и религии (эмпирическим путем) или как в математике (логическим путем)?

Just like a guy said...

By me, I'm not so sure about the first, but the second is definitely true.

Very true.

How to obtain knowledge about morality? As in physics and religion (empirically) or as in mathematics (logically)?

Anarchist Chossid said...

What? How did this end up on this blog? Hmm...

Just like a guy said...

Where was it supposed to end up?

Anarchist Chossid said...

Here.

And it seems it did.

Strange. Universe is full of surprises.

Anarchist Chossid said...

Why do you have comment approval?

Just like a guy said...

Commenting on Russian posts? That is impressive.

Very strange.

Because I've had a ton of spam lately, and having comment moderation on posts older than thirty days makes life easier in that regard. You may recall a post on this very topic: http://basementblogging.blogspot.com/2009/12/austin-psa.html

Anarchist Chossid said...

Why is it strange for me to comment on Russian posts? (Btw, the guy is Jewish.)

Just like a guy said...

Who said it's strange? I said it was impressive.

Anarchist Chossid said...

Why is it impressive? My command of Russian language equals or exceeds my command of English.

Now, if I was writing in Israeli forums, that would be impressive.

Just like a guy said...

You're right. Consider me unimpressed.

When that happens I'll be impressed again.

Anarchist Chossid said...

Well, the guy is actually an Israeli. Or an ex-Israeli (he lives in NY now). I actually wish he wrote more posts in English, because most of the stuff he writes is very intelligent and is a good propaga... I mean, popularization of libertarianism.

e said...

if you wouldn't say that the path to acquiring religious knowledge is empirical, than you'd have an easier time finding an appropriate path to moral knowledge.

Just like a guy said...

CA: You're assuming that libertarianism is in fact a desirable thing.

e: Since when was the goal for things to be easier?

Anarchist Chossid said...

Explain.

(I was asking the question to the poster, actually, who claimed to have access to absolute morale.)

Anarchist Chossid said...

morality*

Anarchist Chossid said...

[This, TRS, is an example of a false friend. In Russian “morale” (moral’) means “morale”, “morality” and “the point of the story”.)

Just like a guy said...

No, you explain.

Anarchist Chossid said...

I should explain what e meant? That could be fun...

Just like a guy said...

Oh, sorry, I thought you wanted me to explain what I said.

Anarchist Chossid said...

Oh. I didn’t even see what I wrote there.

I always like quoting Rasag. Any intelligent person should see that Torah is the truth and goodness and therefore should want to follow it. Lehavdil, similar reasoning could be applied to libertarianism.

Anarchist Chossid said...

what you wrote there*

Just like a guy said...

"could be"