STROKE: Remember 1st 3 Letters: S-T-R

If everyone can remember something this simple, some lives might be saved.

It only takes a minute to read this...

A neurologist says that if he can get to a stroke victim within 3 hours he can totally reverse the effects of a stroke... totally . He said the trick was getting a stroke recognized, diagnosed, and then getting the patient medically cared for within 3 hours, which is tough.

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RECOGNIZING A STROKE WITH "S - T - R"

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Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. Unfortunately, the lack of awareness spells disaster. The stroke victim may suffer severe brain damage when people nearby fail to recognize the symptoms of a stroke

Now doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three simple questions:

S * Ask the individual to SMILE

T * Ask the person to TALK and SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE (Coherently) (e.g., It is sunny out today)

R * Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS

If he or she has trouble with ANY ONE of these tasks, call 911 immediately and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher.

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Extra Sign of a Stroke: "Stick out Your Tongue"

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Another "sign" of a stroke is this: Ask the person to "stick" out his tongue.. If the tongue is "crooked," if it goes to one side or the other, this also is an indication of a stroke.

I'm not a doctor and I don't play one on tv, so I invite all medical professionals to add their comments. If they agree with the foregoing, I encourage them to post the advice in their anterooms and examining rooms so patients and others will have a chance to become "stroke conscious."

Yohanon
Yohanon.Glenn @ gmail.com

Half truths - are they lies?

I've been casually watching the primary politicos' press posturing and I have to tell you, I am (once again) disappointed in our choices - and in some of the folks supporting them.

It's not that any of the candidates are telling blatant lies about their opponents, at least as far as I can tell, but innuendo and half truths are flying about more than feathers from a torn pillow in a hurricane.

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Most of us know the story of the prevaricator who slandered his rabbi.
Later, filled with remorse, he went to his rabbi and asked how he could make amends.
Rabbi tells him to take a feather pillow, rip it open, and throw the feathers to the wind.
Our miscreant does as he was told and returns to the rabbi expecting forgiveness.
Instead the rabbi instructs the slanderer to collect all the feathers and put them back into the pillow.
"It's impossible to retrieve all the feathers; they were blown away by the wind."
"Exactly," replies the rabbi, "it's the same with your words; they have scattered (by one person gossiping to others) beyond retrieval."

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One candidate claims to be in favor of something; the opponent takes the remark out of context and, like a tv sound bite (of which we all should be suspicious), presents it as the full remark, adding his or her on twist own the other person's words.

Of course each candidate plays to the audience of the moment. While there may be a lack of a documented promise, there are "suggestions" about the candidate's feelings toward this group, or against the groups real or perceived foe.

To be fair to the candidates, many of us are "single issue" voters who will vote for anyone who claims to think as we do on "our" special interest.

Has everyone forgotten everything they learned in their high school Civics classes? Presidents can say whatever they want, but Congress and the Court can frustrate any president's wishes. Elect me and everyone will have a lifetime supply of "free" high octane gas - never mind that Congress won't fund the promise and I'm certainly not going to pay for it from MY pocket.

There are Web sites that attempt to fairly present a candidate's views, but it's hard to hit a moving target.

One thing that amuses me about politicians - they attack each other for having a change of mind.

Are we all frozen in time, never changing when new evidence is presented or different situations occur?

I know I wasn't always as I am today. I would hate for someone to say I was "wishy-washy" because I drive a Chevy when I used to drive a Ford. (Actually I don't drive either, but I hope I make my point.)

I think it would be great if we could develop a list of concerns with input from all special interest groups, carefully craft the questions to avoid "weasel worded" answers, and present them to candidates sequestered in separate rooms and away from their advisors and "spin doctors."

No debate.

Just the answers; as complete as the candidate cares to provide (for even that tells us something about the person).

Spare me the negative half truths; I won't listen to one candidate attempt to discredit another. I want to know where the candidate stands on the issues.

Civility and truth on the campaign trail: the stuff of which dreams are made.

Yohanon
Yohanon.Glenn @ gmail.com

Aza and the Heights

I am amused that Iran's Ahmedinajad is upset by Syria "talking" with Israel about the "return of the Golan Heights."

Never mind, for a minute, that the Heights are not Syria's or that Syria's (and Israel's and Lebanon's and Jordan's and ...) current borders all were drawn by France and England for their political convenience.

Let's focus instead on what lies ahead for Israel if Syria - with Hezbollah and Hamas in its bed - takes the high points.

According to most non-Jewish pundits - and a few Jewish as well - Syria will be happy with the arrangement and there will be peace to at least match that between Israel and Egypt and Jordan.

But let us, for a moment, look at an area Israel "gave back" to the "indigenous" population: Aza (Gaza).

Israel acquired Aza from Egypt; Egypt didn't plan it that way, but it happened.

Aza is, basically, a jail for the Arabs living there. Their jailers are - not Israel as the media might lead us to believe - but Hamas; before Hamas, Arafat's PLO.

Israel gave back the Sinai to Egypt in return for a peace agreement; it cost Sadat, a true hero in my book and a terrorist like his Israeli counterpart with whom he visited in Jerusalem, his life at the hands of Arab murderers.

Israel decided to "give back" Aza - forcing Jews out of the area and destroying their homes as part of the agreement, allegedly so the PLO could construct high-rise apartments for the "refuges" whose parents left their homes to make way for the "glorious invading Arab armies."

The IDF - Israel Defense Force - withdrew and the PLO, later Hamas - took over.

And attacks, which the PLO assured the world never would happen, happened.

So Israel built a barrier.

And the world castigated Israel for its "chutzpah."

It would be even more upset by Israel's fence to separate its enemies from its population.

Never mind that the US is building a wall between itself and a non-threatening neighbor, Mexico.

Never mind that Aza has a border with Egypt - which the Egyptians have sealed with a wall recently made famous by Azans who tore it down to get into Egypt - and it has access to the Med (which, with all the millions the world has given the area's political leaders Azans could have built a world-class sea port - but didn't). Likewise, the Arabs in occupied Israel (Judah and Samaria) share a border with Jordan. Look at the maps! Hardly an "island jail." (Click on the title link for a map.)

Since Sharon pulled Israel out of Aza - don't ask about the synagogues the Moslems desecrated - southern Israel has been the target of infiltrators and almost daily rocket attacks.

Now, who is in charge in Aza?

Hamas.

Back to Syria and the Heights.

Syria is in bed with - Hamas.

Syria is aligned with Ahmedinajad who repeatedly calls for Israel to be wiped off the face of the map.

Syria is in bed with Hezbollah, the rapists of Lebanon and, like Hamas and - in Arabic, anyway - the PLO - sworn to Israel's annihilation.

Maybe I am foolish or a warmonger or, well, pick your term, but I can't work up much support for a "return" of the Heights - or anything else - to Syria.

Unlike Sadat, I don't see any Syrian leaders visiting Israel with a peace agreement.

Unlike Hussein, there is no history of toleration.

I do see aggression and continuing threats to Israel's safety from all the parties (including, sad to say, some Israeli politicians).

My immediate family is in Israel - near Haifa, in Rehovot, and in Bet Shean, and the extended family all over the country, including places within range of Hamas' rockets. I lived in Zefat, so I know what it's like to be shelled. I also was in Haifa when the rockets fell on that town a couple of years ago.

Maybe I'm prejudiced. But if that's the case, I would have done something abusive to the Israeli Moslem family sharing a close-to-Haifa beach with some of my family as the rockets were being fired at us from a Hamas-controlled zone. (I found it hard to believe a Moslem woman would walk on an Israeli beach in full garb given the events of the time, but she did and did so confident she was safe. Would, could, a Jew with a colorful kippa stroll a Lebanese or Azan beach with any feeling of security? I would not.)

I honestly have seen nothing in Syria that would suggest that giving Syria the Heights is wise; on the contrary, giving a government with Syria's mentality a position to shell its enemy - Israel - and to murder its people, is stupid.

Why Israel's current - or previous - PM is willing to sacrifice Israelis, both Jews and Moslems since missiles are indiscriminate - is beyond my ken.

Why would Israel invite another Aza?

Yohanon
Yohanon.Glenn @ gmail.com

About those Avot

The Spouse is participating in Shabat Avot classes with a few other ladies and the rabbi's wife (also, I hasten to add, a lady).

At the last class, the topic somehow turned to Talmudic luminaries - a hedge word since many were not rabbis, at least in the "ordination" sense - who were converts.

Since I have a copy of Masters of the Talmud by Alfred J. Kolatch (Jonathan David Publishers, July 2003, ISBN-13: 9780824604349), I brought it down and started looking for converts who "made it" in the Talmud (either or both versions). The book, by the way, is a "keeper."

Everyone knows about Ben Bag Bag (ben ben-ger ben-ger - suggesting both parents were converts) and a few about Ben Hei Hei, who some suspect is the same as Ben Bag Bag.

But Ben Bag Bag's parents were converts, not Ben Bag Bag himself.

Were there any "first generation" converts?

There were, and according to Masters of the Talmud, they include:

Onkelos, the most famous, who translated the Torah into Aramaic. Many humashim have Onkelos' translation in a column to the side of the Hebrew, and his translation is used by scholars to "confirm" the meaning of the Hebrew. (p286)

Aquila (Akilas), Hadrian's nephew (Onkelos was the son of Titus' sister); like Onkelos, his claim to fame is translation of the Torah - in his case, to Greek. (p127)

Shemu'el bar Yehuda, a student of Yehuda bar Yechezkel, ended up teaching in Tiberia. He was one of Abbayei's teachers. (p337)

Minyamin Ger HaMitzri not only is a convert, but it is advertised in his name (Ger) as is his place of origin (Mitzriam - Egypt). (p268)

There also were a number of descendents of converts. Masters of the Talmud lists

Avtalyon (p137) and Shemeyah (p330), one of the zugot (pairs), allegedly (Gittin 57b) were descendents of converts.

Bururyah's husband Meir is, according to legend, a descendent of a family of converts. (p260). Bururyah has her own entry on page 145.

Other descendents of converts include Ben Bag Bag and Ben Hei Hei (p143).

Mari bar Rachel was not a convert - his mother was Jewish - but his father converted after Bar Rachel was conceived so he bears his mother's name. (p257)

As we - the Spouse and I - were discussing the converts identified in the book she commented that it was strange none was named "ben Avraham," the current assumed name for male converts. (There is a growing trend to name converts "ben (or bat) Avraham v'Sara" - son (daughter) of Abraham and Sara, just as there seems to be a growing trend - in congregations of all types - to call people to the Torah using both father's name and mother's name.)

One person who rated mention in the Kolatch book (Shemu'el bar Yehuda) seems to have taken the name of his teacher (Yehuda bar Yechezke) as his patronymic.

I don't know that there is anything sacred by about naming a convert ben (bat) Avraham any more than there is anything "cast into concrete" about a tombstone bearing the name of the deceased father (e.g. Peloni ben (bat) Avraham) - there is a North African tradition to identify the deceased by the name of the mother (Peloni ben (bat) Sara), probably for the same reason we identify a sick person by the mother's name.

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The author's bio also is interesting. The following is from the Barnes and Noble Web site (http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Masters-of-the-Talmud/Alfred-J-Kolatch/e/9780824604349/):

Alfred J. Kolatch, a graduate of the Teachers' Institute of Yeshiva University and its College of Liberal Arts, was ordained by the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, which subsequently awarded him the Doctor of Divinity degree, honoris causa. From 1941 to 1948 he served as rabbi of congregations in Columbia, South Carolina, and Kew Gardens, New York, and as a chaplain in the United States Army. In 1948 he founded Jonathan David Publishers, of which he has been president and editor-in-chief since its inception.

All page numbers (p###) above are the relevant pages in the Kolatch book.

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Yohanon
Yohanon.Glenn @ gmail.com

Daddy-n-Daughter Day

Recently, Magen David's sixth grade girls celebrated the wonderful bond that is shared only between a mother and daughter. After many months of preparation, the girls were thrilled and excited to perform before their mothers, aunts, sisters, grandmothers and even great-grandmothers.
From an article at http://www.imageusa.com/communityarticles/communityevents/magendavids7thannualmotherdaughtercelebration.html

I like father-son and mother-daughter events, but sometimes I'd like to see a father-daughter or mother-son event.

I'm blessed with two sons and a daughter, all young adults now.

I like to think I'm close to all of them.

To be honest, for most of her life, my daughter and I were at odds. We had our moments when all was right with the world. We used to go to the local private airport to watch helicopters, then to a nearby playground where she played in the sandbox, a pleasure her mother preferred she didn't enjoy quite so much. (Mother worked Sunday mornings and I had to have our daughter "cleaned up" after our outing before Mom came home.)

But when she hit the teenage years . . . Well, let's say they were our "difficult" years.

Now in her 20s - barely, but 20s none-the-less - and living in Israel, things have changed; it seems we are back to the pre-teen connection.

"Daddy" is back; it's Daddy this and Daddy that.

I confess it's nice to be a "daddy" again. (To the boys I'm "Pops" or "Dad" or "Abba"; that's OK, too.)

I went on a week-long trip with my #2 Son when my daughter was maybe 10.

Too old, I thought (and, frankly still think) for a girl to go traveling with her daddy.

But maybe I was wrong. Maybe if we had gone on a daddy-daughter bonding trip her teenage years would have been easier on both of us.

No, I have no problem with father-son and mother-daughter events, but maybe - just maybe - some consideration ought to be given to daddy-daughter and mother-son events as well.

Something more than "take your child to work" day.

Yohanon Glenn
Yohanon.Glenn @ gmail.com

Hamas Endorses Obama

Just in case anyone missed it.

April 16, 2008

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives2/2008/04/020315.php

On Sunday, Aaron Klein and John Batchelor interviewed Ahmed Yousef, chief political adviser to the Prime Minister of Hamas, on WABC radio. The interview produced a scoop which, for some reason, has not been widely publicized: Hamas has endorsed Barack Obama for President. Yousef said, "We like Mr. Obama and we hope he will win the election." Why? "He has a vision to change America." Maybe Yousef has some insight into what Obama means by all these vague references to "change."

Of course, Hamas's taste in American presidents is suspect. Yousef also described Jimmy Carter, who was about to pay a call on Hamas when the interview was taped, as "this noble man" who "did an excellent job as President."

Yousef was asked about Obama's condemnation of Carter's visit with Hamas, but didn't seem troubled by it. Hamas, he says, understands American politics; this is the election season, and everyone wants to sound like a friend of Israel. Nevertheless, he hopes that the Democrats will change American policies when they take office.

(Link to audio from this site.)

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Newsmax Staff

Thursday, April 17, 2008 10:21 AM

http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/Hamas_Endorses_Obama/2008/04/17/88754.html

Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama has received an endorsement he might well wish he hadn’t — from the militant Palestinian group Hamas.

Ahmed Yousuf, Hamas’ top political adviser in the Gaza Strip, delivered his endorsement in an interview with WorldNetDaily and WABC Radio in New York.

“We like Mr. Obama, and we hope that he will win the elections,” Yousuf said.

“I do believe [Obama] is like John Kennedy, a great man with a great principle. And he has a vision to change America, to [put] it in a position to lead the world community, but not with humiliation and arrogance.”

The U.S. and Israel have been seeking to isolate Hamas, which seized control of Gaza in June and is classified by the State Department as a terrorist group.

Obama, as well as presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and John McCain, have all referred to Hamas as a “terrorist organization,” according to WorldNetDaily.

Asked about Obama’s criticism of former President Jimmy Carter’s meeting with Hamas during his Middle Eastern trip, Yousuf said:

“I understand American politics and this is the season for elections and everybody tries to sound like he’s a friend of Israel…

“I hope Mr. Obama and the Democrats will change the political discourse when one of them will be the president.”

© 2008 Newsmax. All rights reserved.

Yohanon
Yohanon.Glenn @ gmail.com

Iowa meatpacking plant raided in ID theft investigation

Full story: http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080512/NEWS/80512012/1001
USA Today condensed version: http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2008-05-12-meatpacker-raids_N.htm

By Nigel Duara, William Petroski and David Elbert, The Des Moines Register

POSTVILLE, Iowa — At least 300 people were arrested Monday on immigration and identity theft charges at Agriprocessors, one of the USA's largest packing plants for kosher meats.

Agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement entered the Agriprocessors complex in this northeast Iowa community of 2,500 during morning work hours, executing warrants for fraudulent use of others' Social Security numbers in connection with their employment at the plant. The packing plant has attracted workers from Mexico, Russia, Ukraine and elsewhere.

Nathaniel Popper, a journalist who has written about Agriprocessors for The Jewish Daily Forward, based in New York, said the raid could disrupt the supply of kosher meat.

"This could have a big impact on the supply of kosher meat in America," Popper said in an interview. "Over the next several days, that's going to be the big question for people in the Jewish community who keep kosher."

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QUESTION FOR THE HAKHAMIM (RABBIS): Do practices which violate Jewish law - even though U.S. laws were violated, Jewish law tells us to obey government laws except in three instances - render the products from this facility "not kosher" - particularly if the organization is owned in whole or in part by Jews?

Something to consider as we review Avot each Shabat (or more frequently).

Meanwhile

JTA reports (http://jta.org/cgi-bin/iowa/breaking/108541.html under the headline "Feds: Drugs made at kosher meat plant," that "Federal authorities charged that a methamphetamine laboratory was operating at the nation's largest kosher slaughterhouse and that employees carried weapons to work.

"The charges were among the most explosive details to emerge following the massive raid Monday at Agriprocessors in Postville, Iowa."

Rabbis: Your comments, please.

Yohanon
Yohanon.Glenn @ gmail.com

Big personality in small body

I share quarters with a rabbit.

I'm told he's a "Polish dwarf." Could be.

A dozen years ago he was the runt of the litter who couldn't find a home until my #2 son decided he wanted a pet for his birthday. (Fair enough, his older brother and younger sister had pets at one time.)

Franklyn was in a box at a neighbor's house. The "remnant." The only other rabbits around were his parents.

#2 somehow found out about the kitten (as young bunnies are called) and told us he wanted a bunny.

So, off we went - #2, his brother and sister, and the father.

When we were introduced to a very small black ball of fur, #2 was afraid to hold it for fear it might fall and be hurt. The daughter, then perhaps 6 years old, was braver and her inherent motherly instincts rose to the challenge; she cuddled him all the way home - a matter of about two blocks.

Frank's been with us since he was 2 weeks old. He survived trips from Florida to southern Virginia and from there to northern Virginia, and, being in a Jewish home, he has "survived" a dozen Passovers.

Turns out he loves matzeh.

'Course he also loves soft bread and the Spouse's Shabat challot - we do the motze, share it with the humans at the table, and then while the first course is being tabled, I take The Rabbit his piece.

Frank also has been known to eat turkey and salmon and to drink tea from a cup; bunny lovers -and they are a vocal lot - probably would take umbrage, but in all but one case, Frankie's diet was "self-defined." He loves cereals, bananas, apples, and most veggies, but turns up his nose at carrots.

No one ever thought he would live this long, although we met a woman who said her dwarf lived some 14 years.

Over the years Frank has become part of the family and, as the children left to live their own lives, came to adopt me as his protector. The Spouse tries (and fails) to be distanced from him; she knows he won't live forever and . . . well, she has a big heart that will break even as she pretends she doesn't like him.

He isn't all that demanding. When he wants to be petted, which is often, he comes over and pats my leg, letting me know it's time to pick him up. Other times he content to pretend he's a dog lying at his master's feet - only question is, who is the master?

He's not quite as active as he was 12 years ago, but he still kicks up his heels and races around and around the room. (According to http://www.threelittleladiesrabbitry.com/rabbityears.php, Franklyn is - well, older than me; the cited site suggests 10 "human" years equates to 75 "rabbit" years.)

He is temperamental. A very social animal, if he's left alone for an extended period, he shows his displeasure by overturning his food bowl, sometimes managing to dump the contents into a water bowl. (He drinks from bowl and bottle.) We're trained; if we expect to be out for more than an hour we have to leave a radio on for That Rotten Rabbit.

Some years ago, Frank developed a cataract in one eye; turns out that is common in "older" rabbits. It never slowed him down; he goes tearing around the room, kicking up his heels. He no longer makes 90-degree mid-air turns as he did as a youngster, but then with no small kids chasing him he probably thinks "why bother."

Over the years I've learned a lot from a small black rabbit and laughed a lot at his antics as well.

Bottom line: Frank is very much a part of the family.

 

Frankie became ill just before Passover 5770 (2010) and died on the 8th day of the Omer (23 Nissan.7 April. See http://yohanon.blogspot.com/2010/05/problem-with-pets-good-bye-frankie.html

Yohanon
Yohanon.Glenn @ gmail.com

Ethics or Wisdom, it's still Avot

It's the Pirke(i) Avot season

For the uninitiated, Avot (or Avos for some) is a tractate of the Talmud that primarily contains sayings of early luminaries. Avot is Hebrew for Fathers, in this case, a generic term equating to "elders."

These comments - divided into 6 chapters - can be studied any time, but traditionally are Shabat topics from Passover to Rosh HaShana. There are numerous translations both in book form and online. If you want to find a few, I suggest you search for "Avot" and "Avos"; leave "Pirkei" out of the equation due to spelling variations.

Avot is guaranteed to make a reader think. Sometimes there is general agreement, sometimes not.

The personalities quoted in Avot are very human; some of their remarks need to be considered in the light of the times, or perhaps on which side of the bed the fellow got up. There are statements which we will read and can apply in today's world and there are others that will cause us to wonder "what prompted THAT remark."

Most variations of the Avot theme omit details about the participants' lives; who were these guys, anyway.

I once asked Sender Haber, a young rabbi in Norfolk VA, who was "Yohanon" sans patriarchal or professional attribute. I knew of Yohanon the Sandler and Yohanon of Jerusalem and the more famous Yohanon ben Zakkai, but just plain "Yohanon"? Mi who? Who is he?

R. Haber wandered over to a bookshelf, pulled out a small volume, opened it in the middle to "Yohanon" and invited me to "take your pick."

Turns out, my name was one of the most common - no, "popular" - of the time; there's nothing "common" about a person named Yohanon.

I didn't have time to sit and pour over the book - it was in Hebrew and even though Hebrew is 25 percent shorter than English, I read that language at least 25 percent slower and there were "places to go and people to see."

Somewhere along the line I found a book in English titled "Masters of the Talmud" (both Bavili and Yerushalmi) that, lo and behold, provided a brief biography of the attribute-less Yohanon as well as most of the others who populate the Talmud.

So now I sit with a copy of Avot in my hand and Masters of the Talmud nearby; two books that never will be out-dated.

Trivia

There is/was a bust of Shamai in the JTS library in NYC.

There is a book called "Like a driven leaf" about "haAchar" (who is identified in "Masters")

Hillel's instruction to writers: "Do not say something that is not readily understood in the belief that it will ultimately be understood," or, as James Thurber noted much later, "A word to the wise is not sufficient if it doesn't make sense."

Ben Zoma would say "Who is wise? One who learns from every man."

Yossei the son of Yohanon of Jerusalem still gets the ladies upset with his remark "Do not engage in excessive conversation with a woman. This is said even regarding one's own wife--how much more so regarding the wife of another." But taken in context . . . As I wrote earlier, "sometimes there is general agreement, sometimes not."

Avot always is interesting and I'm always glad when Pesach rolls around and it is "officially" time to dust off the copies of Avot and to consider the comments of the Fathers.

Yohanon
Yohanon.Glenn @ gmail.com

OK, OU, Star-K, Vaad this and B'datz that

We are shomrei kashrut.

Which means we depend on labels such as OK, Star-K, OU, various va'adim, bdatz of various cities, etc.

For the most part, I have a high level of confidence in these organizations, realizing that sometimes a symbol is high jacked or used incorrectly. That's why I subscribe to Kashrut-dot-com.

But, since we are Sephardi - specifically North African - we can enjoy kitniyot during Pesach. Our Ashkenazi cousins' tradition is to forego such delights during the same period.

Since OK, Star-K, OU, and most of the vaads are controlled by, and cater to, Ashkenazim, they automatically reject as "not kosher (for Pesach)" anything that might contain kitniyot. Sometimes the certifying agency fails to specify "for Passover" and just lets the reader believe a product is "not kosher" - period. That is both insulting and libelous.

But insults and libel are not the reason for this piece.

I queried one of the major national certifying agencies about its certification process and found that, well, it's not all that thorough.

The agency checks the product's process - say a canned vegetable.

It may check the vegetable for bugs.

But what about the chemicals what are used to wash the veggies?

How about the chemicals that go into the can to preserve freshness?

The answer I got when I asked, basically, "how far back do you go" to assure that the ingredients in an ingredient in an ingredient used in the process is kosher? was, by me, "not far enough."

Let's face it, in order to determine if a product is kosher today, a person needs to be a chemist or only eat fresh-from-the-field provisions - and is even that sufficient given what we use to enhance and protect food products - both fruits and veggies as well as animal products.

It is my understanding that the certifying agencies DO have well-qualified chemists and other trained personnel, and I have no quarrel with the expertise employed by the agencies.

I do, however, have two complaints:

One, if you tell me something is kosher, I want to know that ALL the ingredients are kosher; just as I am told meat has been properly slaughtered and inspected (at a minimum "glatt") I want to know the agency knows that all the chemicals are kosher-certified. If I need to be concerned that the salt I use for Pesach is not iodinized, I expect the certifying agency, with its highly educated chemists and food scientists to know every chemical used in a food's process.

Two, while I realize Sephardim and Mizrachim are in the minority in North America, I think the certifying agencies should state "Kosher for Passover/May contain kitniyot" if that's a concern. To state something globally is not KforP is bigotry or, to be "PC," narrow minded. It is as if Sephardim/Mizrachim are "lesser Jews."

In my business (risk management) I am obliged to look beyond my own business to that of my vendors (and sometimes my clients, as well). I need to know that if my vendor fails, I will have a supply of critical "whatevers" - in other words, does my vendor have a viable risk management plan? I don't normally ask if my vendor's vendor has a plan - but I might expect my vendor's plan to consider this and give some evidence of that consideration.

I don't put the vendor's product into my mouth and the vendor's product is not covered by the laws of kashrut, but I am careful since the vendor's product can effect my bottom line (as it can a certifying agency's).

Beyond that, we have found that we - users of ingredients to produce our products - need to do our own checks. The most recent example of the need for inspection at all stages of a product's production is a high concentration of lead in dental appliances.

If the kosher certifying agency fails to confirm that ALL ingredients in a product as kosher, how can it claim the product we put into our mouth is kosher?

(Yes, I know about the 1/60th and "so a dog won't eat it" qualifications.)

I still look for the kosher label, but I no longer have complete trust that the product bearing the label really is "100% kosher."

Still it is, after all, better than nothing.

Yohanon
Yohanon. Glenn @ gmail.com

Car radios

Two unrelated events triggered some thoughts about car radios.

The two events are a recently renewed acquaintance that dates back 30-plus years (seems I've been doing a lot of that recently) and purchase of a new car.

The renewed acquaintance, and the associated correspondence, brings back many memories of the times, including a very long journey - nearly 7,000 miles - around the country.

Back in the day, I seemed to live in a car; on the road both day and night.

At one point, before the 7k-mile excursion, I had a Volvo 122S (back when Volvos were affordable) with a Blaupunkt AM/FM/SW radio.

As I traveled across country, I could tune in programs from islands in the Atlantic.

But most of the time, I had cars with standard AM radios.

Anyone who knows about "standard" radios - both the AM and FM varieties - know that they have a limited range.

As they say, range is limited by distance and terrain.

There's another factor - station output power.

I don't know if they're still around - I don't spend a lot of time traveling at night anymore (have I become "civilized" in my advanced years, or just in less of a hurry?) - but there were a number of "clear channel" stations that went from "normal output wattage" during daylight hours, "normal" probably being something between 5kW and 10kW, to 50,000 Watts after dark. Most other stations shut down at dark.

There was one super-powerful station that blanketed most of the continental US. It had, I think, 100,000 Watts of output power. The station was in Texas, but because the U.S. Federal Communications Commission limited output power to 50kW, the transmitter was in Tijuana, Mexico. The deejay was a fellow named Robert Weston Smith (b. 21 Jan 39-d. 1 Jul 95). You may have heard of Smith by another name: Wolfman Jack. A Web search for The Wolfman will turn up a number of hits. If we weren't in the mood for The Wolfman's chatter on XOXO, we could tune to WOWO (Fort Wayne IN), WGN (Chicago), WWL (New Orleans), WLW (Cincinnati) - to name four I listened to as I traveled night-time roads. Wikpedia lists all - or at least most - clear channel stations in Canada, Mexico, and the U.S. at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clear_channel.

Most of nearly 7,000-mile journey (ibid.) was in a Volkswagen 1600 Variant. It had a radio but no air conditioning which turned out to be a serious deficiency when we drove through Phoenix AZ at 2 a.m. on day in June. The Variant was towed back across the country behind a '67 Rambler Rebel station wagon. I never did get the hang of backing up a towed vehicle or trailer.

Jumping ahead those "30-some" years and into the new car, I have not only an AM/FM radio with digital readout !, but a CD player and, as a promotional gimmick, XM radio free for three months.

Only problem: I work about 10 minutes from where I live, and partially thanks to gas prices and partially thanks to having to do "other things," I spend very little time behind the wheel. There's a 1,000-mile trip planned, but other than that, it's roughly 30 minutes-a-day in the car.

Somehow it doesn't seem fair.

By the way, I once actually got to see The Wolfman close up. He was on a double bill at the Denver coliseum with Leonard (Mr. Spock) Nimoy, and I just happened to be in town. Quite a night in the Mile High city.

Yohanon
Yohanon.Glenn @ gmail.com

Made in America, Revisited

I was born in the USA. I lived for a while elsewhere and I know that America is, for me at least, "the" place to live.

I was very much a "Buy America" flag waver.

But I just traded in an "assembled-in-the-USA" SUV for a 90% made-in-Asia car.

I have, over the years, owned a number of Ford and GM vehicles; even a great Rambler Rebel wagon, c 1967, the brief period Rambler wore the American Motors logo.

So, why did ol' Red, White, and Blue look west for the current transportation?

Quality.

Warranty.

The SUV I turned in was a '99. I had to replace the transmission before 100,000 miles.

That would not have been so bad, but in researching the transmission's history, I discovered the problem my car encountered was the same one other same-make SUV owners had been encountering for more than a few years.

In other words, management of the car maker refused to change a bad unit.

I am not pointing a finger at the folks who built or assembled the "assembled in America" SUV; I fault management.

At one point I owned an American-assembled Diesel passenger car.

I went to a new car dealer for the vehicle's first oil change. The factory-trained service tech tyro changed a filter and put in a little over 4 (US) quarts of oil.

What's wrong with that? The car required two oil filters and 5-plus quarts of oil.

Then there was the cracked block and the hung-up starter - the dealer people couldn't find the battery to disconnect it. (The battery was in the trunk.)

My first car was a "made-in-America" Oldsmobile 76 - that's not a typo, it was a "76" which I named "The Spirit of '76"; admittedly I was not very original at age 17. Since the 76, I have owned a number of other "made-in-the-USA" or "assembled-in-the-USA" vehicles. I've also owned a Vauxhall, VW, Toyota, Subaru, and Nissan nee' Datsun. Most of the cars were at least "pretty good."

But as the calendar pages turned, it seemed "made-in-the USA" gave way more and more to "assembled-in-the-USA" and management elected to allow production of faulty products - and when confronted with the fact, it figuratively thumbed its nose at the customer . . . the poor person who pays their salary. Chutzpah. Toward the end, "assembled-in-the-USA" was becoming "outsourced to Mexico" (I'm bitterly thinking of Ford's F-100 plant in Mexico, formerly of Chesapeake VA.)

My new sedan was acquired because the SUV needed several thousands of dollars worth of work that, because of $pecialty tool$ could only be accomplished by a dealer (replacement of two timing chains). There also was the cost-of-fuel issue and the fact I no longer need the SUV's capacity.

But why buy a foreign name? There are "assembled-in-the-USA" vehicles which provide decent mileage.

Warranty.

Remember I complained about the SUV's known-bad transmission?

I paid to get it fixed since it was out of the manufacturer's 3 year/36,000 mile warranty.

When I starting shopping for the new flivver, I carefully looked at warranties, gas mileage, and price. Even the highly touted Japanese models offered only 3/36. Some vehicles offered 5/50. Chrysler now has a life-of-vehicle (or first owner?) on its power train (bravo, Chrysler!), but the price and mileage combo kept me off Chrysler lots.

My new car gets "pretty good" mileage (estimated 25/37), was within my "willing-to-pay" range, and has a 10/100 warranty.

I hope I don't have to use all the warranty's benefits, but if I do, I know that I am covered. Based on past experience with the manufacturer and model, chances are pretty good I won't need to use the warranty often, but if I do . . .

Yohanon
Yohanon.Glenn @ gmail.com

Of crawlers and blogs

Back when Hector was a pup* and I was a young newspaper reporter, brand name companies such as Coca-Cola, Sanka, Caterpillar, and a few others employed staffs to peruse newspapers and magazines and to listen to radio and television for misuse of their trademarked names.

Ordering a cup of Sanka or having a coke (with a lower case "c") often would get the offending writer a nice letter from the trademark owner suggesting that a repeat offense would have both parties meeting at the bar . . . of justice.

I suspect there are many fewer people doing that these days when so much information is exchanged via the Internet.

Now, instead of people perusing paper, applications - crawlers - search the WorldWide Web for key words. With most printed publications now having an on-line, digital version, the companies in most cases can save their subscription costs. What's in US News & World Report? Let the crawler read the pages and if there is a hit - if it finds a key word - it will report back.

Crawlers look at more than newspapers and magazines. They apparently look at personal blogs, too.

This blog was hit by a corporate crawler looking for specific key words appearing in a previous posting.

I don't mind. I don't write anything libelous or scandalous; most of what is on this site is about as exciting as dry cereal left soaking too long in milk. But I was surprised to see two hits within minutes of each other from the same corporate source. Since this is a new blog and since it hosts a potpourri of subjects, it's not likely that my visitor knew about this blog before the crawler discovered a key word. Since only one blog entry was "hit," the finger points back to a single source.

Technology. Interesting tools; tools to find things and tools to record visits by the search tools.

But it's a reminder. The Internet is an open book; everything out "there" is open to the world. When blogging, or emailing, or otherwise putting it all on the line for the world to see whether you want it seem or not, consider the Pilot's Poem (Burma Shave would be proud):

When descending

from above

Be like porcupines

making love

C A R E F U L L Y

* By the way, if you're interested in learning about Hector, try http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-sin1.htm - and no, I'm not THAT old.

Yohanon
Yohanon.Glenn @ gmail.com

Is anything 100% Made in the USA anymore?

Two U.S. defense industry giants are head-to-head in a PR war over an Air Force purchase order.

Granted, it is a BIG purchase order and one that was - past tense - worth fighting over in the bidding trenches.

Northrop Grumman, which won the contract, is buying roughly 40 percent of the components for the KC-45 tanker from non-US sources. (Northrop puts it this way: "The Northrop Grumman KC-45A will include approximately 60 percent U.S. content. ")

All the black box stuff, Northrop states, will be "Made in the USA" and the parts, like an Erector Set (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erector_Set), will be assembled at a plant in Alabama.

The main foreign component, "a commercial A330 jetliner, will be assembled by American workers in EADS's facility in Mobile. The aircraft will then undergo military conversion in an adjacent Northrop Grumman facility, where all of the critical military technology will be added. "

"EADS" is the "European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company EADS N.V. (EADS), a large European aerospace corporation, formed by the merger on July 10, 2000 of DaimlerChrysler Aerospace AG (DASA) of Germany, Aérospatiale-Matra of France, and Construcciones Aeronáuticas SA (CASA) of Spain. The company develops and markets civil and military aircraft, as well as missiles, space rockets, satellites, and related systems. The company is headquartered in the Netherlands in Schiphol-Rijk. The company operates under Dutch law. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EADS).

Americans, and this scrivener is very much as American, dislike the idea of depending upon a foreign supplier for critical parts. Worse, unlike US industry which, while often government regulated, is for the most part independent of the government, foreign governments play a partnership role in many industries, aviation being but one. Worse yet, some of the players in EADS are governments which are notoriously fickle.

Still, we - in particular the defense industry - have been selling our wares to the world for decades and we, sad to admit, are sometimes less than honorable with our promises of support.

At one point I worked for Tadiran Electronics' Telecom Division here in the States. Tadiran is an Israeli company; the Telecom Division has since be acquired by another Israeli company.

I heard on more than one occasion that "The PBX is a great machine with all the bells and whistles I want or need" and indeed it was a first class phone system, "but I'm worried that there will be a war and I won't be able to get spare parts."

The answer, which I knew to be absolutely true, was that the U.S. operation had enough spare parts to support all our customers anticipated (based on conservative MTBFs) needs for however long a production interruption would last.

While I am not happy about some of Northrop Grumman's partners (I have confidence in others), knowing that the U.S. government is an 800-pound gorilla on EADS' client list I expect that even if EADS overall deliveries slip, Uncle, and Uncle's "employee" Northrop Grumman, will be the first to get what is to be gotten.

Bottom line: Turn around is fair play. We - the US - should be able to buy with some level of confidence from off-shore supplies. On a personal basis, how many of us drive 100% U.S.-made vehicles? How many of us wear 100% U.S.-made clothing? Granted, neither cars nor clothing are "critical to our defense"; petroleum is, and most of the fuel those planes will be carrying will come from outside the U.S. (Our shame is that we still lack alternative fuels for homes and vehicles.)

Boeing may very well have other reasons to complain about Northrop Grumman winning the contract for the next flying gas station, but parts sourcing should not be one of the complaints.

Yohanon
Yohanon.Glenn @ gmail.com

Words and wordsmiths

Just finished reading a collection of letters to and from Wm F. Buckley titled "Cancel your own * subscription" with "Notes and Articles from National Review" as its subtitle.

(* I'm no prude, but I cannot abide gratuitous profanity; the "*" represents one of Wm. F's favorites.)

I am, by and large, a fiscal conservative and social liberal, so I'm generally in agreement with the late Mr. Buckley and with the late Barry Goldwater, Air Force general and senator from Arizona. I am mid-way through a slim volume of Goldwater's called "The conscience of a conservative" to which Pat Buchanan's front matter is far too long.

I enjoy Buckley's writing more than his political philosophy. He was a bit of a curmudgeon, but he certainly has a way with words. I found paragraphs in the book which brought to mind a Hemingway bullfight scene of 102 or so words.

There is an art to stringing together more than a few words while still maintaining reader comprehension. Hemingway used it so well readers, reading the prose aloud, automatically pause for a breath where a comma appears in the text. There is tension in Hemingway's work.

An aside. Buckley is dead. The book I was reading is copyright 2007. Yet I write in the present tense, as if Buckley is alive and well. THAT is the legacy of the written word.

I came by the Buckley and Goldwater books thanks to my two boys who gave me a gift card to a local book purveyor. The two books were marked down, as was "The traveling curmudgeon," a book of comments by, mostly, professional travelers that I acquired at the same time. I interrupted that book to read Buckley.

Abba Eban, also "late," had a way with words. Eban had a way with English words, with Hebrew words, and even Arabic words. Perhaps other languages as well. I have a copy of Eban's "My People" in his second language which I bought when I lived in the country he represented in the (dis)United Nations.

Perhaps because I spent a few years in the writing business, and most of that obliged to write short paragraphs of even shorter sentences, I enjoy the opportunity to read the work of people lacking the constraints placed on my wordsmithing.

Writing, like oratory, is becoming a lost art.

While I have heard a number of famous people speak, only one - Hubert Horatio Humphrey, Jr., a gentleman with whom I was not generally in political agreement - was able to capture and hold my undivided attention. He spoke, with little preparation, at a hastily convened event in Harrisburg PA when he was a guest of then governor Milton Shapp (which dates the event).

I don't aspire to write like Buckley or speak like Humphrey, but I appreciate their skills and envy their command of the language. Reading them or listening to them is as much a pleasure, politics aside, as listening to good music (and that, too, spans a broad spectrum).

Yohanon Yohanon.Glenn @ gmail.com

What is ERM/BC/COOP ?

What, in a nutshell, is Enterprise Risk Management (ERM), Business Continuity, and COOP?

Protection.

For an organization - all organizations (commercial, industrial, educational, government, non-profit, charitable) of all sizes (small families to multinationals with 10s of thousands of people).

ERM - also known as Business Continuity and Continuation Of OPerations - identifies

• why an organization exists
• what are the organization's critical processes
• what are the risks to the organization's critical processes
• what can be done to avoid or mitigate the risks to the organization's critical processes

then it

• recommends appropriate avoidance and mitigation measures based on defined criteria
• prioritizes the risks based on (a) probability of occurrence and (b) impact on the organization
• develops plans to respond to a risk if it occurs
• develops plans to protect an organization's most critical resource, its people
• establishes a process to sustain the ERM program's currency
• creates a training methodology to test the ERM findings while building responder confidence

What type risks?

All risks are considered; nothing is too "off the wall." Playing the "what if" game is the essence of risk identification. What if a client's order is delayed? What if a client can't pay? What if the mailing list "disappears" or the accounting files are corrupted? What if the building can't be occupied (think of the congregations in New Orleans after Katrina's visit)? What if the leadereship unexpectedly is absent. Consider what happens if a major donor doesn't.

Enterprise Risk Management isn't rocket science, but it does take an experienced practitioner to make certain all the risks are uncovered, that appropriate mitigation or avoidance measures are in place, that people know how to respond.

As I wrote earlier: ERM is protection. Similar to insurance (which is an ERM concern), we prepare for the worst and hope for the best.

That's what ERM is all about.

Yohanon
yohanon.glenn@gmail.com