short takes

[cellio]

And now for something completely different...

The husband of a member of the Debatable Choir posted video from our Pennsic performance.

I didn't know enough chemistry to fully parse this geeky comic by ohiblather, but I still laughed out loud when I saw it.

xiphias reports research that seems to be begging for an IgNobel award. As he points out, it's worthy because first it makes you laugh and then it makes you think. I mean, what publishable conclusion would you expect from researchers doing an MRI on a dead salmon?

I feel fortunate that "talk like a pirate day" fell on Rosh Hashana, meaning I was shielded from most of the antics. But I enjoyed top ten halachic problems for a Jewish pirate, forwarded by dglenn. Should I be worried that I have defensible answers for several of them?

Fun website mash-ups from metahacker and others. From one of the comments: "OKAmazon: People who had sex with this person also liked..."

Signal boost: kyleri makes hand creams, lip balms, soaps, and similar items, and she is currently having a sale. I bought some of her creams at Pennsic and am happy with the results.

I haven't turned off the spelling checker in Firefox on this machine yet because I do sometimes make typos that it catches, but this post almost made me do so. :-)

Comments

[zevabe.livejournal.com]

If the captured pirate ship will be a temporary dwelling for more than 30 days, a mezuza should be affixed.

Sephardim keep Pesach the same amount of time as Ashkanazim, that being 7 days in Israel & 8 days elsewhere.

The plank is an interesting case. If it is large enough to have a 4 tefach by 4 tefach hole in it, and one can hang 10 tefach walls from it, one could draw things from the sea by means of this hole. This is unlikely with a plank, but possible (and actually discussed with regard to a balcony over the sea). If the plank is less than 4 tefachim wide (or long), I am unsure if it is significant enough to constitute a reshut hayachid, even as an extension of the ship.

Animals and small children are assumed to carry themselves, but rabbinicaly one is enjoined from carrying them without need ("We are going home now, Sally. You may not stay at the park." is sufficient need) Unless there is a need to bring the parrot around with you, you probably should not carry it without an eruv. If there is a single owner of the ship you are aboard, or an eruv chatzerot is made, this becomes less of a concern.

[cellio]

Mezuzah: good point; it could well take that long to get back to harbor.

Sephardim keep Pesach the same amount of time as Ashkanazim, that being 7 days in Israel & 8 days elsewhere.

I was taking an unwarranted shortcut: if you use Ashkenazi pronunciation then the odds are very good that you are not living in Israel. Sephardim of course could be anywhere, including Israel. I should have filled it in. (I was trying not to go over the character count for comments, but that was not a good place to conserve.)

Plank + hole: I didn't know that. Thank you for educating me.

Animals and small children are assumed to carry themselves, but rabbinicaly one is enjoined from carrying them without need

I thought there was a prohibition on baby slings because of carrying. Of course, that suggests a degree of premeditation that might not apply in your playground example. It's one thing to pick up the resistant kid, and perhaps another to leave your house carrying the kid in the first place.