Forlorn for good

iod @ 2009-06-18T22:34:00

2009-06-19T02:40:02Z

Upgraded to Firefox 3.5rc1. Nightly Tester Tools has once again saved all my yet-to-be-updated extensions that work fucking well even though nobody has flipped a number somewhere (what's the deal with that? It's so annoying!).

Also, from Revital Solomon's blog:

geeze...

iod @ 2009-06-01T21:18:00

2009-06-02T01:19:15Z

I actually emailed my supervisor today. Of my own volition. I'm quite proud of myself, really.

iod @ 2009-03-26T20:31:00

2009-03-27T00:46:08Z

So, fellow Ontarians, I'm trying to make sense of this GST/PST harmonization thing. Why is everyone saying it's going to make stuff more expensive? Aren't we already paying 13% taxes on everything? Why should it matter whether it's divided into GST and PST or if it's all in one lump?

Israeli Apartheid Week Poster Improved

2009-02-25T17:16:43Z

Stop demonizing Israel. Stop the one-sided portrayal of Israeli actions in Gaza. Get real.

iod @ 2009-02-22T20:40:00

2009-02-23T01:52:59Z

During out visit back home I dropped by the local Tzomet Sfarim bookstore to see if there's anything that I might be interested in, despite the fact I had no time in the past 18 months to read anything not study-related except for a single Pratchett book. Anyway, as I was strolling by depressed by the complete lack of anything mildly interesting, I noticed a book by wassername Daliot, the Israeli Supernanny. Out of mere curiosity I flipped to the contents page to see what sort of topics she's covering. The very first one was about a child who sleeps in her parents' bed. That hit home. So I started reading the first chapter. It took a lot of flipping through endless pointless descriptions, some of them in boxes for not apparent reason, but eventually I got to the practical stuff. She suggested to a couple that came to her with the problem that during dinner, they explain to the child that tonight she is going to sleep in her own bed, and instructed them to quietly but stubbornly refuse to give in to her crying and return her to bed whenever she got out of it and into their room.
Now, our kid has his own bed, which is in our room for lack of space. He used to be in a crib, and for a while he even slept there regularly, but then we had some transition issues and we felt sorry for him, so we let him sleep with us. When we decided it was time to get him back to sleeping in his own bed, we found he could climb out of the crib - just well enough to throw himself out of it and fall 4 feet to the floor... So we sold the crib, and he was allowed once again to sleep in our bed. We then bought a toddler bed, and, like I said, placed it in our room, next to our bed, but he still refused to go to sleep in it - he fell asleep in our bed and I had to move him every night over to his own bed.
Tonight I figured I'd give that idea of Daliot's a shot. Come evening I told the kid that tonight he's going to sleep in his own bed. He seemed confused at first, and said "mommy daddy bed" a couple of times. I insisted, and even reminded him that it was grandma and grandpa that bought him his new bed (which is true). He considered this for a while, and then climbed into his bed, and asked for his pillow, which was on our bed, and his new Dora doll, and then he just put himself to sleep, no argument, no crying, no resentment.

Every once in a while he reminds me just what a great kid he is.

iod @ 2009-02-02T22:47:00

2009-02-03T03:54:24Z

This past week I was frantically trying to finish reading Huntington's Political Order in Changing Societies (1968), on which I was supposed to give a 40 minute presentation today in my Core Developing course. The book is some 460-odd pages long, but we were spared a hundred of those. Still, that meant I had to do about 100 pages per day (including the added critiques) if I was to manage it on time. I'm not used to reading so much, and I DO have other things I need to attend to.
So I ran kinda late and only really finished writing the presentation last night.

Nonetheless, I got quite positive responses, and am incredibly relieved to have that behind me. Now I can actually enjoy my visit to Israel during Reading Week without constantly thinking about my assignments, like I did last year.

iod @ 2008-12-05T10:58:00

2008-12-05T16:01:05Z

My LJ style-thingie broke sometime recently, and all the subject lines were blacked out, so I've changed it, for the first time since - oh, I don't know, 2001? Yeah, I'm that sort of guy.
This needs some getting used to. I don't deal well with change.

On a happier note: our child care subsidies finally got approved, so we not longer need to pay 1450 DOLLARS per month. That should make things considerably easier. Ah, welfare state, how I love you.

DECIMATE!

2008-12-01T01:51:03Z

"USAGE NOTE Decimate originally referred to the killing of every tenth person, a punishment used in the Roman army for mutinous legions. Today this meaning is commonly extended to include the killing of any large proportion of a group. Sixty-six percent of the Usage Panel accepts this extension in the sentence The Jewish population of Germany was decimated by the war, even though it is common knowledge that the number of Jews killed was much greater than a tenth of the original population. However, when the meaning is further extended to include large-scale destruction other than killing, as in The supply of fresh produce was decimated by the nuclear accident at Chernobyl, only 26 percent of the Panel accepts the usage."

From the American Heritage Dictionary. Seen here.

Birds of prey

2008-10-23T04:30:51Z

Look what I found on the way to university yesterday:

On the way back I stopped to look at the crime scene up close:

Our trip to the 1000 islands

2008-10-14T03:02:31Z

here.

Never thought I'd be a cat person

2008-09-21T01:15:08Z

Breaking News: We now ~~own~~ ~~share our home with~~ serve Petel.

iod @ 2008-09-17T22:58:00

2008-09-18T02:55:34Z

House is in da house!

iod @ 2008-09-05T20:50:00

2008-09-06T00:49:40Z

Going around campus on the start of the new year, I passed a group of first year undergrads, and felt a melancholy feeling flooding me. It took me a couple of seconds to realize why. Then it hit me. These kids, they're 12 years younger than me.

Oh dear.

The Blogobella

2008-07-29T16:15:13Z

Want to be a part of a new joint narration project? There are more details on this idea I'm starting to work on - that you can participate in! - in my Hebrew Blog.

iod @ 2008-07-18T22:16:00

2008-07-19T02:27:29Z

I seriously don't know how, but Dr. Horrible actually depressed me.

iod @ 2008-07-17T09:26:00

2008-07-17T13:24:01Z

I don't know how many, if any, non Israelis read this blog, but if there are, here's something you should watch:

iod @ 2008-07-13T13:03:00

2008-07-13T17:01:38Z

I know I'm not supposed to complain about stuff like that, but my kid's "noon nap" (that started at 9am) has been 4 hours long, and counting... That's just crazy.

DW Spoiler

2008-06-29T05:06:12Z

I'll give this much to those fellas as the BBC - they sure can keep a secret well.

Oh, well, like Tom Baker said - three years is more than enough. Nice knowing ya, Dave.

First

2008-06-23T04:43:37Z

Tomorrow will be Carmel's first day in day care. I'm... speechless.

Moffat, part 2 (also: spoiler!)

2008-06-08T03:44:22Z

Evil, you hear me? That man is plain EVIL.

(SPOILER!)
(plus, that happy ending was the worst happy ending in the history of not at all happy happy endings. I want to kill myself).

מופאט מופתי

2008-06-03T06:13:41Z

Why can't they just let Steven Moffat write all the Doctor Who episodes? The man is a god.

(also, in previous post forgot to mention: a surprisingly excellent trattoria in Georgetown, of all places...)

Weekend list

2008-06-03T03:31:44Z

2 parents visiting
2 nights in Toronto (Island, stroll, Ikea, buy new bed for Carmel, assemble bed, find out part is missing, angry call to Ikea, drive back, find out it's all my fault for taking care of Carmel and leaving L and parents to buy the bed, thus missing the tiny detail of the required additional part, back home, finish assembling bed, Carmel already sleeping in our bed)
3 days touring mid-eastern Ontario
2 nighs at Days Inns (St. Catherine, Guelph)
Assorted parks
Countless restaurants
Infinity mosquitoes at Guelph U. arboretum (also: getting lost)
1 unhappy kid (not getting proper naps, not eating well)
1 last day in Toronto
4 packages of diapers bought to make good use of rental car
approx. 2000 dollars spent (parents')
1 Carmel sleeping in his own bed like it's always been this way (also: at long last, glorious sex)

House s4e16

2008-05-21T02:37:43Z

I wonder if it's good to know I can still shed a tear.

iod @ 2008-03-28T14:37:00

2008-03-28T21:12:47Z

I try and convince my students that I'm a heartless bastard, but the truth is I'm just a softy. One student got C's on both her midterm exam and the first term paper, and was visibly exasperated with her failures. She's a sweet kid and really seemed to make an effort, but just didn't do very well.
When I read her final paper I was really impressed with her improvement, and she rightly got an A for it. Today I saw her in class, and even though I'm not returning the papers until next week, I just had to come up to her and tell her how much I was impressed with her paper. It was really great seeing how happy she was to hear that. I like making people feel good about themselves - particularly if they deserve it.

Torchwood

2008-03-24T02:49:32Z

I've criticized Torchwood before on many counts, not least of which was their ridiculous need to justify, in the first season, their description as an adult-oriented program by including an inordinate amount of sex. In fact, the first few episodes were centred around sex (and having an omnisexual as your lead role is also helpful, of course). I stopped watching the show after those first few episodes.
But I returned to it when the second series began, and have been watching it since (and intend to go back and watch the first one when I get the chance). It has, in a word, improved. Dramatically. It is my understanding that it has in fact significantly improved over the course of the first series already.
Yes, sexual depictions are still all over the place, often gratuitous, but sexually themed episodes are nowhere to be seen, and while the characters' libidos are still very much active, they no longer take full reigns over the narrative. The stories, naturally, benefit from this, and the further away they are taken from the him-and-her stories (despite my fondness of the Toshiko-and-turn-of-the-century-guy story), the better. A prime example is last week's episode (I'm lagging a bit, indulge me) - a story where the central relationship is a mother-and-son one. (Warning: some slight spoilers ahead). More importantly, it's a story with no clear "bad guy". I kept waiting for it to come, but it never did. I kept waiting for the monstrous looking man to grow ferocious teeth, for something disgusting to burst out of its mouth, for some horrid thing to take place. But they're Brits, and their best quality is understatement (cf. Dr. Who's "The Empty Child" and "Blink", two masterpieces (both by Steven Moffat), although the latter had a clear bad-guy), and that shriek that emanated from him, a 20-hour scream, that was more horrid than anything that would simply gross the viewer out. I can't take that image - and sound - out of my head now. It is powerful. Very much so. One thing to be said of the new Doctor Who and its spin-offs, is that it has brought humanity back into the picture, and more often than not placed it in the centre of it. This one episode is an exceptionally good specimen.

If you watch one Torchwood episode, watch "Adrift". (oh, and don't watch "Adam". A piece o' crap, it is.)