short takes

[cellio]

I have a theory about meetings at my company. For any meeting that does not involve food or take place in a room with too few chairs, assume the offset from the scheduled meeting time is is 2 minutes plus 1 minute per attendee (in the late direction, of course). This actually seems to track with my previous few companies, too.

Cheat out, an essay that siderea wrote about one particular SCA group, has a lot of application in other groups, SCA and non-.

This explanation of "shabbos goy" made me giggle in places but is basically right (link via almeda).

A while ago I wrote about the contrast in attitudes between two (I thought) 80-something women in my congregation. Last Shabbat I learned two surprising things: the one with the great outlook on life, who seems young (despite having lost her husband of 65 years not long ago), just turned 93 -- and the cranky shrew for whom nothing is ever good enough, who seems "old", is only in her mid-70s. What a difference attitude makes!

Comments

[cellio]

I've been told that it's common to have kids build up to fasting gradually. You don't want to just hit them with it when they turn 13. So you gradually take a little more away each year so they're close at 12 and can take the final step the next year. (Disclaimer: I don't have kids and I didn't do this as a kid...)

For the elevator light, I guess I would draw the line between "kids like to play with things" and "deliberately doing something that Mom can't do herself". I wouldn't want to encourage the latter, because it'll be harder to break later. On the other hand, kids will be kids and I wouldn't yell at the kid for pressing the button. As he gets older I'd teach him why he shouldn't do that, and for something as simple as lights I'd be pushing him toward better behavior long before age 13.

[goljerp]

Fasting: I don't remember fasting on Yom Kippur as a child. I have a memory of being in the kitchen after services on Yom Kippur (i.e. in the afternoon), and my father being in the living room (which we didn't use that often). I wanted to go over to him, but my mom said something like "Don't bother him; he's fasting and it's very difficult for him". The first time I fasted the whole day was in college...

The elevator light... Makes me think of my friends Marcus and Ruth, who are observant and live on the 11th floor of a building. Their sons really love pressing the buttons, and on weekdays Marcus will make a big deal about it ("Gabbi, time to press the button! What a great job!") So on Saturday, naturally, Gabbi wants to press it "like normal". It's dealing with situations like this that can be tough...