Igor Pitches In

We have assembled a lot of boxes in our family room and the sun room.

The boxes are to be filled with used clothing and other items for charity.

We do this once or twice a year.

This year there were a lot of boxes.

So Igor took some time off from working at Vampy's Castle to help us out.

I thanked him and said I would tell Vampy that he was lucky to have such an assistant.

"Yes, I'm a great assistant vampire." said Igor.

"No. You're assistant to the vampire." I said.

"It's the same thing." said Igor.

"No. No it's not." I said.

Wile adjusting his Sabbath Goy Duty

Last Shabbat Wile E. took Road Runner's delivery route (and the profits from that work).

He was quite tired by the end of the day. Coyotes have a peak speed of about 40 mph but can not maintain that for more than a short burst of speed. Ordinary Road Runners have a peak of about 20 mph but our Road Runner goes into overdrive which is probably just below the speed of sound (as we've not heard a sonic boom).

Anyway, this week George is renting Wile E. his Smart Car for Friday from 2 pm. Wile E. will pay George for the 2pm to start of Sabbath period but doesn't have to return the car until close of Sabbath and Wile E. may use it during Sabbath (although George doesn't get payment for that period). However, the rent for the Car is front end loaded.

The point to all of this is to allow Road Runner to keep the Sabbath in preparation for him being a witness at the wedding of Lev and Hadassah.

Getting Ready for Sabbath Observance

As noted earlier this week, Road Runner will be observing the Sabbath. This will qualify him to be a witness at the marriage of Lev (Davidovich Bronstein) and Hadassah (Parnas).  Also as noted earlier Road Runner already observes Sabbath except for the 'running down the road' delivering packages.  Road Runner, however, might not be 'remembering' the sabbath so well e.g., his Sabbath tefila would be considered sub standard.

Road Runner is having Wile E. Coyote carry out his deliveries on the Sabbath. In preparation for that, they executed a contract whereby the Road Runner delivery service is owned by Wile E. on the Sabbath (the contract is in the notebook as are the general instructions for delivery). These deliveries are limited to Montgomery County, hence the phone book.  

Road Runner has heard Wile E.'s introductory pitch for Christianity before but Road Runner was happy being a Reform Jew. Wile E. is thinking the issue of Sabbath Observance might give Road Runner a new motivation.

Getting comfortable in each other's company

Hadassah (left in image) arrived earlier this week.

She and Lev have had several 'get comfortable' dates.  Lev was a bit put off at first because Hadassah wasn't wearing a head covering. Hadassah said that she would wear one after being married. This was OK with Lev but just to preserve the yichud and of course the negiah, Lev had Road Runner observe (surreptitiously).

Road Runner has now been sabbath observant for several days. He started after the previous havdalah so it hasn't been difficult to be sabbath observant yet (actually impossible not to be observant except in intent).

Also, notice that the snacks during the date are modest.  

Also, Coke is the beverage of choice. As noted in the second image, there is adequate supply for this.

Pre Wedding Conferencing

Pengy and Lev are discussing the Mishna in Sanhedrin 3:3 (Sanhedrin is the 4th tractate in the 4th order, i.e., Damages or Nezikin). This deals

with who is disqualified from being a  witness. Listed there as being disqualified are (per my interpretation) gamblers, loan officers, professional entertainers and people who violate the rules of the sabbatical year.

The talmud adds to this. Other authorities weigh in. Since Lev is Ashkenaz we defer to the Rama (George did the research). The Rama is sort of lenient on this. He finds that one who is on the right path, even if he was previously an apostate, qualifies as a witness. This assumes otherwise good character and reliability (second image). This would qualify Road Runner who is a reform jew but, other than speeding down the highway does observe sabbath.

The issue comes up because three witnesses are needed at a wedding and Lev expects to marry soon.

Grad is looking on. He is only interested because he has heard that there is some nice whiskey served at the Tisch which precedes the wedding. This is essentially the groom's reception and during the Tisch the marriage contract (Ketubah) is completed and reviewed. Also, behind Lev are the professor and Gretel. The former is interested in the 'construct' and the latter wanted to do one of the shiva brochot but since there is no minyan, there won't be shiva brochot.

Ski Bear Compliments one of the Rishonim

 Ski Bear (image 1) frequently notes that his big head is necessary since he has to have a lot of brain power to teach the fundamentals (or maybe the nuances) of skiing.

These fundamentals (or nuances) consist of telling skiers to:


  a. put their skis next to each other like two parallel french fries if they want to go faster, and,



b. put their skis forward point to forward point like a slice of pizza if they want to go slower

this point is made on the T-shirt in image 2.

Ski Bear recently learned of the history of a Talmud scholar from the 13th and 14th centuries who has been called the Rosh by later scholars.

The Rosh is an acronym where the 'R' stands for 'rabbi' and the 'sh' is for 'Asher' as the Rosh's full name was Asher ben Jechiel.  However, "Rosh" also means "head" and, of course to Ski Bear, that signifies something meaningful.

Looking through the accomplishments of the Rosh, Ski Bear said that if only the Rosh hadn't spent so much time studying books like the Mishnah (in image 1), the Rosh might have made a contribution to understanding the fundamentals (or nuance) of skiing. 


As it was, the Rosh actually took pride in not knowing very much outside of Talmud and various halackic subjects related to the Talmud, at least according to the write up available here. 

The results of an overengineered solution

 Our Hanukkah menorahs built up considerable wax over the years making the insertion of candles something of a chore.


The wax also became somewhat unsightly on the

bottom of the aluminum pan in which we to keep the menorahs.


While Ann and I were at the Gym, George decided to melt the wax out of the menorahs. He put the aluminum pan with the menorahs in the oven and put it on 'Self Clean'.


All the wax was gone at the end of the self clean cycle. However, also two of the menorahs melted. One fell apart as it melted (the darker material in image 1), one melted into interesting shapes (which could be modern art but we disposed of them). Three of the menorahs survived more less completely (minor discoloration).  The house smelled of smoke for a while also.

It reminded me of the over-engineered solutions that Wile E Coyote used to try to catch Road Runner (image 2).

Big Coke ReSupply Day

At one point in the day, our inventory of Coke reached the zero mark.

This is a red flag for Coke bear because he says that this situation results in our not getting a sip of joy. Also there is the more coercive marketing angle (Coke bear would say it's the more information loaded angle) but let's not go there today.

Both Martin and George purchased stock and now we have many dozens of cans of Coke.

A happy Coke bear rests on the inventory.

Lucy Angry Threatens Lawsuit

I was putting men's cologne on the stuffed animals a few days ago. I do this every so often so they will smell nice.

By mistake I put some on Lucy. She was upset and told me it was a form of assault. She threatened a lawsuit but, even though she went through an old time phone book, none of the lawyers she called would take the case.  The ones who didn't answer the phone didn't return her call.

Clever Trick by Vampy

 You would think that being United States Under Secretary of State to the Underworld would be a lot of work and wouldn't leave much time for other things.



However, Vampy likes to stay in practice by making small mischief.


Yesterday I bought some Coconut Cream for Beth to use in some soup. I placed it in the pantry with the product picture facing out so Beth could see it (image one).


But when Beth went looking for it the can had mysteriously been turned around showing the nutrition information (which looks like almost any other canned product).


When questioned about this, Vampy said, "Heh Heh" He also threatened to put Aspertame in somebodies tea instead of Sucralose.

Gate to Get Award in Israel

 Alligator has been staying with us while we were visiting Beth.

Gate used his time to advise the Israel Revenue Department. He studied the Israeli situation by, among other things, reading the newspaper.

As a result, when Beth leases her apartment on AirB&B, she will have to pay a variety of taxes upon the receipt of revenue.

Then upon next year's income taxes she will have to pay even more.

Beth's initial estimate is that she will gross about 5,000 NIS and net only about 1500.

For his work, Gate is up to receive the President's award for the State of Israel.

However, they will keep this quiet because it would be bad publicity for Israel.

Will Gate be able to keep relatively silent?

New Location for Siena Pizza and Mikey is On It

It has been about a week at the new location now. I've done much of the Mashgiach work there so far.

In the image, Michelangelo is looking at the menu which is pretty much the same as at the old location. George didn't have pizza today so Mikey could only speculate on the awesomeness of the pizza. The chairs are pretty though.

IMO, the main thing wrong is that the pizza ovens don't get hot enough (they are electric) and this makes the cheese take a little too long to melt.

The first Monday they were open was orientation day at two of the Jewish schools and by 1115am the restaurant was already getting crowded (even though the seating capacity is about 75% greater than the other location.

Wily Advises on Plumbing Job

 Here is Wily Coyote looking at the main intake after the PVC pipe was installed and joined to the cast iron pipe on each side. More images of that job are here.

Wily was disappointed that the installation didn't include a giant spring and a catapult but otherwise he was pleased.

Also he didn't get a chance to evangelize the plumbing team as they took off right after the job.

Successful Gaslighting by Gretel

Gretel got an interim security clearance recently and will get to go onto Walter Reed Military Base with Ann (that's Gretel looking at an announcement for a beer festival).


Some of the people who security interviewed remember Gretel making problematic comments when her clearance application was initially reviewed. 

However, Gretel has managed to get those people to doubt their own memories (gas-lighting).  The image is of Ingrid Bergman from the 1944 film "Gaslight". She plays a woman whose memories are manipulated by her husband. One of the memories is of the gas lights in a house being dimmed.

When I asked Gretel how she felt about her successful gas-lighting, she said,

"Hey I don't even know what that means since I'm a dog, you know... bark bark bark"

Yeah I guess that makes sense. Maybe I remembered it wrong.

Ann took Gretel in to work today.  

Gate and I Discuss Administrative Law

Gate took a break from reading the paper to look over some of my tax records as I was making photocopies of them for our upcoming appointment with the Social Security Administration.

I said, "Should you be doing that without a warrant?"

Gate responded "Its an administrative search, look it up."

I looked it up and then asked Gate, "Well, the controlling opinion is a 1988 finding by the Supreme Court of Illinois in the Case of People vs Madison, and in that they quote an earlier finding that, 

"...One of the fundamental principles of administrative searches is that the government may not use an administrative inspection scheme as a pretext to search for evidence of criminal violations...""

Gate responded, "what do you mean pretext, I'm just looking for some... uh...stuff..."

George adds that Gate may have cited a case that is less than national,

"Fourth Amendment reasonableness is predominantly an objective inquiry.  We ask whether the circumstances, viewed objectively, justify [the challenged] action. If so, that action was reasonable whatever the subjective intent motivating the relevant officials. This approach recognizes that the Fourth Amendment regulates conduct rather than thoughts, and it promotes evenhanded, uniform enforcement of the law. 

Two limited exceptions to this rule are our special-needs and administrative-search cases, where actual motivations do matter." (emphasis added and internal citations and quotation marks omitted).

Ashcroft v. Al-Kidd, 563 U.S. 731, 735-36 (2011)

 A few days after I posted about Hard Rock Bear's comments about North Carolina, I saw a business article that was interesting.

Hard Rock will be opening a franchise in Guyana as part of a 'high end development'. 

In the first image, the person on the right Dereck Chin, CEO of MovieTowne, Guyana said that... Hard Rock Café will provide a dining event that includes a unique visual and sound experience..."

I asked Hard Rock Bear if the corporation paid a substantial fee for the right to be in Guyana. He said, "well, let's just say some money changed hands".

Hard Rock Bear Comments on a Business Decision

 Hard Rock Bear is frequently telling us that he is 'very unique' (he was the 147th Atlanta Hard Rock bear as I recall from when we still had the authentication card).  Nonetheless, we brought him with us to North Carolina in May 2018. This was because he wanted to scout out some areas to place another franchise.

Hard Rock cafe is, as of now (and has been for several years) a completely owned subsidy of the Seminole Nation.  I have suspected that the Seminole Nation uses the restaurant chain to invest tainted proceeds from their casino operations and then retrieve, untainted cash from the restaurant's customers. 

Anyway, Hard Rock obviously saw the physical appeal of both Chapel Hill (top image) and Durham (2nd image).

When I asked where he thought a franchise would be best placed, Hard Rock bear said, "Wherever the opportunity for money launde... I mean wherever the best business climate is.... heh heh."

vampy washed

Beth visited and Vampy got a wash.

It took several days for him to dry because we didn't put him in the dryer (might not be good for vampires).

He wasn't too happy about that. He did get on the Weiss chronology blog however.

Mischief Big and Small

Vampy has been up to some mischief lately.

In big items, he was able to mess up the Navy's Bethesda Medical Center computer operations (now three weeks without digital medical coding being done).

In small items, he hid my car keys in my tallis bag before I went to a shiva minyan so I had to go back in the house and use a different set of keys.

Vampy says he likes to keep in practice since his gig as US Ambassador to the Underworld may someday be gone.

Pengy and the Professor's offspring discuss

Pengy and the Professor's offspring (we will call him/her Junior Postmodern or JP) had a little talk.

Pengy said, "We look for a sale that is gevinen, gevinen. Parnose for me and a metsiye for the faynshmeker."

JP said, "Your precultural capitalist theory is a mythic construct based on discourse missing the acknowledgement of elitist context as the common structure of the paradigm.  Even in a neodialectic subnarrative, the class structure of the observing theoretically conscious entity is obviously exploitative.  Furthermore, the latent sexism and postconceptual colonialist intrinsic renders the semanticist faux reality as dehumanizing. Only a deconstructive dialectic could lead to a functioning form of neotheory that would satisfy a descriptive aesthetic of those diamonds."


Pengy said, "What?"

JP said, "What?" 

I got some hyacinths in the image for color enrichment.

Also, I think JP is interviewing for a higher position in one of the critical studies field in the Gender and Ethnic Studies Department.  

I used the postmodern jargon generator for this. Also, it gives me an excuse to place this long ago Calvin and Hobbs cartoon (click on it to enlarge) in the post.

Lev Studying

Tonight we got some images of Lev studying Tractate Makkot.  Lev might use them in the marketing phase of the build out of his for profit learning and doing yishiva.  This would assist in the vertical scaling of the enterprise (although Lev admits that he doesn't know what words and phrases like "build out", "marketing phase" or "vertical scaling of the enterprise" mean. 

The first image is from an interior page 22b which is part of perek III of Tractate Makkot. It shows a type of whip made from the hide of a donkey and the hide of a calf. It also has some commentary by RAMbam. 

The second image is of Lev examining the back of the volume. As you can see, the volume includes both Makkos and Shavuot (vows). 

 




The third image shows the same page as the first image but from a greater distance so you can see Lev studying it. 

The fourth image is a smaller version of the first image. Somehow it popped up on the post and it is hard to get rid of it. 

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