short takes

Happy birthday tangerinpenguin!

How not to manage a software project #173: (overheard and taken out of context) "...and if we assume that the tooth fairy knows Java...".)

I have this pasta salad that I wanted to use up, but in dinner-sized portions rather than side-dish-sized portions. The salad has assorted vegetables in it and an oil-based dressing, but no mayo. This worked: mix with grated cheese and sour cream, put in casserole, sprinkle top with more cheese, and bake. I guess it's sort of like lasagna and sort of like a kugel, but with (in this case) tri-color springs instead of conventional noodles. But hey, it worked!

From a local newspaper: An interview with the rat lady (a local SCA person who is well-known at Pennsic as a purveyor of plague rats). She's a neat person. It's a pity the article didn't quote her shpiel -- it changes over time, but tends to include things like "they work on your friends, they work on your enemies, they even work on the Board of Directors -- I'll bet you didn't know anything worked on the Board of Directors...".

Using discomfort as a social yardstick, from dmnsqrl.

Shabbat with Rabbi Larry Kushner

We had a visiting scholar this Shabbat, Rabbi Larry Kushner. (Larry, not Harold. That's a different famous Rabbi Kushner.) It was a neat experience. He spoke at services Friday, led a Saturday-morning service/lecture/discussion mix, and spoke and told stories Shabbat afternoon. (He also spoke at a brunch this morning, but I didn't attend that.)

One of Rabbi Kushner's more recent books is Invisible Lines of Connection, a collection of (true) stories that seem to show God's involvement in ordinary events of ordinary people. This idea -- lines of connection -- formed the theme for the visit. He told many stories on this theme (some from the book, some not), and tried to get us to think about God's involvement in our lives.

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