short takes

[cellio]

Government 12 days of Christmas, from mortuus. Yup, sounds right.

Bruce Schneier observes that "password" is no longer the most common password; it's "password1". Who says users can't be trained? (Link from goldsquare, I think.)

Hebrew question: the word "lamdeini" means "teach us". Adding the suffix ("ni") seems to have changed "lameid" to "lamdei"; why? Why isn't this "lameidni"? Just because that sounds awkward, or for a grammatical reason I haven't yet met?

Packing report: if I were just going on the trip and there was nothing special about it, everything would fit in one checked bag and my backpack (small carryon). But if I want the option to bring anything back, that would be a bad idea. So, two checked bags, one small. (I've used the small one as a carryon, actually, but as long as I have to check anything, why shlep it through airports?)

Yay! In about 28 hours I'll be in Jerusalem! I'll miss Dani and the cats, but boy is this going to be fun!

There will be no time when it would be in compliance with both Jewish and federal laws for me to light the channukiah for the seventh night (tomorrow night). How peculiar. (We leave Newark at 3:50PM and it'll be morning when we get off the plane.)

Comments

[530nm330hz.livejournal.com]

I have heard that some authorities solve the chanukkiyah problem thus:

Given: (1) An incandescent bulb counts as fire (not because it's combustion, but because heating metal until it incandesces is explicitly listed in the Talmud as being a fire equivalent. (2) The chanukiyah's fuel source must be a hydrocarbon, located beneath the flame, that gets consumed. (3) The minimum requirement is one light; even the shamash is not required if there's other light in the room. (4) The chanukkah candle may not be extinguished.

So: One can bring a disposable flashlight, make the beracha at the appropriate time, turn on the flashlight, prop it up so that the buld is above the battery (which, in cheap batteries, uses wax-embedded chemicals to hold the potential), and leave it to burn out on its own.

Although in your case, since Dani will still be at home, you can rely on his lighting, as long as each of you has the other in mind.

[estherchaya.livejournal.com]

This is precisely the answer I was going to give. But you were far more eloquent about it than I was planning to be.