iPad GPS and iPad Blackboard

There is confusion about whether iPad has a real GPS embedded. This article in BindApple explains the confusion and still leaves us unclear about what we have in our wi-fi iPad.

There is excitement about the Blackboard Mobile Learn App (free -- your university must have the server side modules installed) for iPad and other mobile devices. It's a nice first step towards a pure and full application of the platform for the mobile universe in higher education.

4 Things Wrong With the iPad

People have been asking us what we think of the iPad.

Parable: How do you know when you become a really good golfer? You think about the few bad shots you had after every round, instead of the few good shots.

iPad is just such a good invention, it's hard to come up with a few bad shots to mention.

But here they are.

(1) No support for Flash, Adobe's platform used to add animation, video, and interactivity to Web pages. No remedy planned.

(2) No multi-tasking. That's expected to be remedied in November.

(3) Impossible to see the screen when outdoors. No remedy planned.

(4) A closed file and operating system that inhibits control to apps. No remedy planned - it is the essence of how the platform is conceived.

Times: Bragging about Braginsky Hebrew Iluminated Manuscripts

The Times has an article about an exhibit at the YU Museum of the Braginsky Hebrew Illuminated Manuscript collection.

The collection is substantial but clearly this exhibition is premature and primitive. Aside from historical notes, the context of the meanings of the illuminations, the quality of the art, the development of style and continuities or communities of design, just about any critical content of learning, scholarship or analysis about the illuminations -- is lacking here.

We're sorry to say that we've never thought the illuminations on Hebrew manuscripts "amazed" us, as Edward Rothstein ejaculates in his account of the materials. The drawings always look primitive and cartoonish to us, overwhelmed by naive anachronism that continues down to the present day in the sparse Orthodox art that we have.

I don't know what Edward is talking about in his article's poetic opening, "Illuminations of sacred and ritualistic texts are forms of eruptions. Out of familiar and formulaic script leap the strange and extravagant. Rigorous textual arguments give way to decorative ornamentation. Formulaic words submit to a rich brocade of image."

He's being kind, I guess, to a failed exhibit. There really is nothing to say beyond, a rich guy bought manuscripts. Here is where they came from. They have pictures.

He tries to remedy the lack of insight in the exhibit by adding his own, "We see, for example, how particular Jewish communities at particular times imagined the Passover or Purim stories, how they imagined the nature of marriage or the function of commentary. Illumination brings religious text into history and, at times, into biography. The sacred becomes personal." Um, right sure, why not?

He tries again with, "The ritualistic account of the Exodus or of Esther’s rescue of her people becomes allegory, full of color, costume and personal experience" or what he means is, they have pictures.

And just how does a generous Times critic say that the exhibit is a disorganized mishmash? He notes that, "The effect of all this is dazzling and dizzying."

And he concludes with a critic's wit, "Contemporary experience and ancient authority are brought together; the timeless past unites with the varying present: an illuminating collection," or, he says one more time, they have pictures.

(Note that the online link in the article on the Times' site to the YU web site is broken. And the Braginsky site itself has a title on its pages labelling it "Barginsky".)

TBR: Bernard Lewis's Book on Islam Gets Clobbered and Fred Donner's Gets Praised

Max Rodenbeck writing in The Times Book Review has clobbered Bernard Lewis' new book on Islam (Faith and Power: Religion and Politics in the Middle East) and has lavished praise on Fred Donner's (Muhammad and the Believers: At the Origins of Islam).

About Lewis: "If it were only the present that Lewis perceived through a gently distorted mirror, this might not detract from his distinction as a historian. But he gets the past subtly wrong, too, often by omitting vital context."

About Donner: "This more sophisticated reading of history explains Islam not as a static doctrine, but as one that evolved from an ecumenical, syncretic, pietist and millenarian cult into a more dogmatic and exclusivist faith."

Bernard Lewis has never impressed us. We disliked his opacity, politics and his overall bombast and pomposity.

Rubashkin Should Get a Life Sentence

The Forward reports that, "Rubashkin’s Jail Sentence Denounced by Angry Haredim; Some Accuse Judge of Anti-Semitism, ‘Just Like Dreyfus!’"

The kosher slaughterhouse crook got sentenced to 27 years. Too much, not fair, antisemitism, shout the black hat Jews!

We believe he should have been sentenced to life in prison without parole.

The man made a mockery of the religious laws of the Torah. He ran a business whose purpose was to provide kosher meat according to Torah law -- as a racket, a criminal enterprise.

Imagine the scenes. Day-in ritual slaughterers examined their knives for the smallest defect that might render an animal treif. Day-out kosher inspectors examined the lungs of animals for the smallest defect that might render an animal kosher, but not glatt kosher.

Meanwhile the owner of the enterprise whose purpose was to produce meat according to the law actually flouted the law. He was found last November guilty of 86 counts of financial fraud.

We don't believe for one minute that the food produced in that person's enterprise was kosher in any way.

A liar, a thief and a cheat has no standing in Jewish law to represent that any ritual acts were proper. There is not the slightest reason to believe that any product from the Rubashkin plant was kosher in any way, shape or form.

Yes, they violated 86 counts of financial laws and admitted, "to multiple charges of abuse of underage laborers." But no, the meat was kosher!? Give us a break!

27 years without parole is too short a sentence for such a scoundrel. He was destroying the essence of the Torah and rightfully should be punished harshly.

Is Minnesota's Rev. Tom Brock a Hypocrite?

Is Rev. Tom Brock a Hypocrite? And if he fits the definition, then so what?

According to the thesaurus built in to MS Word, hypocrite is equivalent to charlatan or fraud. The Encarta Dictionary defines the word as, "somebody who pretends to have admirable principles, beliefs, or feelings but behaves otherwise."

We've never been a big fan of the appelation. The Gospels use it to attack the Pharisees (who wear broad phylacteries to show they are so religious - but behave otherwise - at least as far as the Gospel writers see it). We believe that rabbinic Judaism is an evolution of Pharisaism. So we bristle at the Gospels' broadsides.

Apparently a hypocrite is not just an inconsistent person or an ironic actor. It's also someone whom you dislike, whom you wish to expose as a fraud and a charlatan.

But really. How could any actual society function if every hypocrite wore a big letter H? How could a religion operate if a preacher or teacher had to put and asterisk next to each precept that he did not live up to entirely?

Exposing a hypocrite may be entertaining or even a socially valid action if that person stands for a form of bigotry and discrimination that you oppose.

Is the consistency of moral word and action praiseworthy? We suppose it is. Is being a hypocrite a personality defect? Perhaps. Let the pure among us judge that, whomever they may be. And let them keep it to themselves.

A hypocrite is not a criminal. Chasing after them is a mere sport. Exposing them is mostly a form of gossip, not anything of high and mighty social value. Is it ethical to engage in a deception, perhaps itself a form of hypocrisy, to get a story that exposes a hypocrite. The Minneapolis newspaper ostensibly wants to know. Or do they just want to fill their pages with all sorts of slimy forms of entertainment? And then what about us, writing about them? Aren't we in on the game too?

Here's the non-news story from the Star Tribune.

Outing case: Cries of 'hypocrite' for pastor, magazine
An anti-gay pastor is allegedly "outed" by a magazine reporter who went undercover in a therapy group.
By JEFF STRICKLER

A Minneapolis gay magazine story allegedly "outing" a minister based on comments he made during a therapy session is generating a flood of controversy, both about the minister and the magazine's reporting techniques.

Lavender Magazine published an article Friday saying that the Rev. Tom Brock, senior pastor at Hope Lutheran Church in north Minneapolis and an outspoken critic of gays, has attended a support group for men struggling with same-sex attractions. The magazine said its reporter, John Townsend, joined the group undercover after getting a tip that Brock was a member...more...

Yes there is an iPhone App for Raising Money for Brown University

What more can we say?

"You have a lifelong connection with Brown and with Brown alumni, starting with the friends you made on campus and extending through the alumni you meet along the way. Brown Alumni Connect makes it easier to stay connected to Brown and one another. In this inaugural version, you'll connect through news of campus activities and of Brown alumni."

Here is the app link.

It may be Ivy League, but its aim still is just plain schnorring (begging for money).

CC Blog: Slonimer Rebbe Calls for an Apocalyptic Holy War in Israel Over School Integration

A source reports that the Slonimer Rebbe calls for an apocalyptic Holy War over school integration in Israel.

Sad, tragic, but we kid you not. Here is the text.

Nation of Hashem, Be Strong and Let Us Gather Strength

To our beloved, dear community, Hashem is upon them, may they live. Be strong and may your hearts gather courage, all those who hope to Hashem.

During these difficult days that our congregation, may Hashem guard and protect them, is enduring – His advice is faith, and this is Hashem in whom we place our hope, we will rejoice and be jubilant in His salvation.

Know this: Had I thought that the court justices believe what they say, that the school in Emanuel is founded on racial discrimination, it seems to me that I would act differently.

However, since I have no speck of a doubt that they know the truth, that all their words are based on falsehood. If so, this is nothing but a struggle between faith and heresy, between the force of holiness and the force of impurity of the Other (evil) Side, – a struggle that we always knew would erupt at the End of Days.

And in a struggle over sanctification of Hashem’s Name – even if they will place us before a firing squad – we will not yield nor compromise a hairsbreadth!

Hashem is our King and we are His servants until our final breath.

And I call to all believers in Israel:

Please join us in this exalted struggle, the struggle that has been awaited and anticipated for generations, “when will it come to my hand, that I should be able to fulfill it”.

Times: Frozen Chozen Kosher Ice Cream

Yum! Hat tip to Bernice.

In Kosher Ice Cream, a Taste of Traditional Baking
By FLORENCE FABRICANT

Move over Soy Vay sauces. Chozen is a new kosher ice cream with mix-ins that would make Tevye happy. Rugelach, coconut-almond macaroon and chocolate matzo are the flavors, all swirled in a fine vanilla ice cream base with no gums or stabilizers. It started as a kitchen table concoction by Ronne Fisher and her daughters, Meredith Fisher and Isabelle Krishana, as they shared memories of traditional Jewish baked goods and ate homemade rugelach straight from the freezer. Nonetheless, one bite of the coconut-almond macaroon had me happily recalling a Good Humor toasted almond ice cream pop. Chocolate babka and honey-apple are future flavors. How about hamantaschen for Purim?

Chozen Ice Cream is $4.99 a pint at Garden of Eden stores, $5.99 at Union Market stores.

Jack Abramoff the Kosher Pizza Man

WSJ reports that the not-so-kosher lobbyist has gone into the kosher pizza business, Jack Abramoff: Back in Business. And we found out in the article that we have something remarkable in common with Jack

He taught a course in Jewish liturgy (Introduction to Davening) in prison and we taught one (Introduction to Jewish Liturgy) at JTS.

Small world. From the WSJ's Washington Wire:

Disgraced former lobbyist Jack Abramoff was released from federal prison to a halfway-house earlier this month and is taking steps towards a new start—at a pizza shop.

The Baltimore Jewish Times reported Monday that Abramoff is working with Tov Pizza (“Baltimore’s Best Kosher Pizza”) owner Ron Rosenbluth in “almost all areas of the restaurant business” with the expectation of focus on marketing strategies during his six-month stint.

Abramoff, before his precipitous decline and imprisonment in November 2006 on felony counts of fraud and corruption charges, listed among his business interests a kosher restaurant in Washington, D.C., so the industry is not new to him.

Rosenbluth told the paper that he was considered it part of his faith to help others, and that he was pleased his pizza business was a place where Abramoff could start a new path. “We’re all Jews, we’re all on the same team,” said Rosenbluth. “I’m more than happy to help a fellow Jew in any way I can.”

The Baltimore Jewish Times notes that Abramoff reportedly immersed himself in his faith while in jail. Citing a former inmate at the prison during his incarceration, the paper reports that Abramoff “gave shirum, or Torah lectures, to the Jewish inmates on an almost daily basis. He focused on Nach, Halachah (Jewish law) and the weekly Torah portion. He also taught an introduction to davening course.”