random bits

[cellio]

The tulips are starting to appear in my yard. We sure went from snow to spring-verging-on-summer in a hurry. But it's supposed to be in the 30s over the weekend.

The (expiration? best-by?) date on a frozen-food package is "Jul 19 2014". This raises two question: (a) such precision -- would July 20 really be different, and is July 18 better in that case? And (b) why isn't frozen food that's good for more than a few months immortal? What exactly is going to happen to my vegetarian corn dogs in a year and a quarter? (The question is academic; I'll have eaten them by next week.)

Someone on Mi Yodeya passed along these really nifty photos of a "teapot" that is so much more. He found it on Reddit, where the claim was that this was used by crypto-Jews during the inquisition. I'm not sure about that, but even if not... wow, cool. Like Russian nesting dolls on steroids. Take a look.

My rabbi blogs now, and I was particularly struck by this recent post about inter-faith relations and more. The part (attributed to someone else) about being neither jerks nor jellyfish when it comes to faith stood out for me.

I saw a job post recently for a (very) technical writer, principal-level, to do programming (API) documentation. That's pretty rare, so when something like that crosses my desk I always look even if it's neither local nor telecommute, to keep tabs on the state of the art if nothing else. On this one, as I was reading down the list of desired skills, past specified programming languages and technologies, past XML markup standards for documentation, I came to... MS Office. This is really not the tool for that particular task. It was then followed by DITA (an XML doc specification that makes DocBook look like child's play), Javadoc, and Arbortext Epic (a tool for editing XML-based documents). I guess somebody decided that throwing in more desired skills was better, or something. Either that or they're not actually doing any of this yet but they aspire to. Which is fine (I've done that), but not clear in the job description.

Comments

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

Ah, job listings that are seeking unicorns.

The 'jerks or jellyfish' article was really interesting.

[cellio]

The job listing in this case isn't so much about seeking unicorns (I've seen those too, as have other people who've commented below). It's more like (weak analogy coming up) advertising a job for a writer and listing "good penmanship" as a requirement. Sure, yes, that matters sometimes in the context of the job, but it's not one of the central requirements that you should be calling out in a job post. Sure, Office is relevant to this kind of job, but it's not central and not knowing it wouldn't be a barrier -- if you know the other stuff in the post, you'll learn what you need about Office on the job.

[starmalachite.livejournal.com]

I remember a job listing that asked for 7 years Java experience back when Java had been around only 3 or 4 years. Which made their ideal candidate either Sam Beckett or the Doctor.

Edited for typo.

[starmalachite.livejournal.com]

Oh, & your rabbi's blog post was very interesting. A surprising amount of what he says echoes my own perspective on these issues.

[http://users.livejournal.com/merle_/]

*grin* Yes. I was working on Java when it only compiled on Solaris before 1.0, and three years later saw job ads wanting four years of experience. Job posters really don't have a clue what they want...

[cellio]

I've seen those too! When "years of experience" exceeds the lifetime of the technology, you've just got to shake your head and wonder.

[fauxklore]

That "teapot" ia pretty incredible.

[cellio]

Yeah, I'd love to have something like that! Or, ok, even to have the chance to handle it in person before giving it back to its owner. :-)

[indigodove.livejournal.com]

FIrst of all, the teapot is amazing, and so beautiful.

I really liked your rabbi's post, and a lot of what he said is what I believe, too. I don't feel I'm being a "jellyfish" when I believe that there are many paths to the same God...I really do think that God is bigger than that.

Hmm, I'll buy that the Last Supper wasn't a seder. Here's an honest question: the Christian bible says that it was the "first day of unleavened bread" and that the disciples asked where Jesus wanted to eat the Passover supper. So, is the distinction that it wasn't a Seder? The Passover feast and some traditions figure into the "Passion narrative" several times. I hope it's clear that I'm not arguing, I'm just really trying to understand. (The tradition I'm thinking of most was that Pilate released a prisoner of the Hebrew people's choice at Passover...which is absolutely not a faith tradition!)

[indigodove.livejournal.com]

I should add, after rereading his post: I wouldn't suggest we "share" Passover. We remember things that happened at the Last Supper on Holy Thursday, but suggesting that Catholics and Jews share Passover is umm, well, wrong. I think that parishioner was genuinely trying to be kind and welcoming, but I don't think she really understands Holy Thursday or Passover, judging from that remark.

[cellio]

I agree that God is bigger than that. The key, to me, is that we should not be afraid to be absolutely firm about what we believe (you don't have to demur), but we should be open to other people making different decisions. That's not being a jellyfish.

On Passover, the seder ritual hadn't yet been invented, though there was a festival meal with certain key elements (including matzah, maror (bitter herb), and the lamb) on the night of the holiday. My understanding (you'll correct me if I'm wrong, I trust) is that three of the gospels say the meal was on Passover (thus leading to the seder theory), while John says that Jesus died at the time the lambs were being slaughtered for the festival, which would have been the day leading up that meal. In John's chronology that meal would have been a day early to be a festival meal, though of course nothing says Jesus can't have a nice meal with his friends on a regular weeknight.

As for sharing, yeah, I agree with you, and I strongly suspect a well-meaning and uninformed congregant there.

[http://users.livejournal.com/merle_/]

You're in luck! July 19 2014 is a Sabbath so, like Schrödinger's Box, you will be unable to open the package! Bwa ha ha... oh wait, late at night you could. Ah well.

[cellio]

Too late: I finished the package today.

[chaos-wrangler.livejournal.com]

The "teapot" set is wonderful, your rabbi's blog is interesting, and the job description (and the comments re it) is frustrating/amusing in that peculiar work-related way.

[dvarin.livejournal.com]

Job req translation:
We have an existing writer who we can't fire who insists on composing absolutely everything in Word or Excel. We're looking for someone who can also take on the side project of automatically converting their work into something integratable.

Re. frozen food, I think it has an expiration date because if there's any air in the package at all, it'll dehydrate while frozen. (Very slowly, since it's the internal ice sublimating and then refreezing on the inside edge of the container.) The date isn't so much a danger threshhold as it as a "past around this point it becomes untasty." As for why it includes a day rather than just a month... I have no idea, but I suspect arcane regulations somewhere are responsible. Either that or they bought a generic date stamper that can't handle dayless months. See also wikipedia Freezer Burn.