Most people have run their names through google.com to see what pops up. Maybe a family tree; maybe one’s Facebook page; maybe a mention in media. It’s worth running to see the results in case anyone else tries the same search.
Ever tried www.zabasearch.com?
The results are revealing, and that’s what scares me. Age. Phone number. Current address. Previous address. A link to www.intelligus.com for more information.
At a previous position a few years ago, I refused to tell a co-worker my age. He simply ran me through www.intelligus.com and then told me my age. Nice.
In Terminator, Arnold Schwarzenegger went back in time to 1984 to kill Sarah Connor so she wouldn’t give birth to John Connor, who ultimately won the war against Skynet and the machines. Schwarzenegger didn’t have Sarah Connor’s contact information; he only knew she lived in or near Los Angeles. So he looked up “Sarah Connor” in the L.A. phone book and hunted down each listing. I don’t believe a Terminator is coming after me, but I am concerned about contact information being even more readily available. Obviously, zabasearch.com is a lot more accurate than a phone book. A few years ago, I read a magazine article about a guy who didn’t like being so easily identified, either. So he worked hard at disappearing, legally. He unlisted his phone number and had mail delivered to a private rented box. Since it wasn’t a PO box, he could list it as his “street address” without people knowing it wasn’t real. He registered a shell company (legal) that owned his home and his car so his name couldn’t be traced to them. He advised against voter registration and entering any contests/sweepstakes, as they are just market research tactics designed to allow companies to learn more about the entrants.
I am a big proponent of voter registration, but it is a problem for me that it makes one’s address a matter of public record. (Hollywood stars get around this by registering at their agents’ downtown offices.) I registered my name and email address at zabasearch.com so it emails me anytime someone runs my name. Thankfully, Zabasearch can’t figure out where I live. It’s just a few steps behind. HA! The only reason it has my Fitch Avenue address is because I connected a land line for dial-up use for a few months and didn’t bother to have it unlisted. In terms of hiding one’s real street address: I do have a real problem with the three huge credit-reporting agencies being in possession of that information. With identity theft being the scourge it is, I don’t believe we’re safe in a situation in which anyone with a few pieces of information about someone suddenly has access to so much more.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Monday, November 10, 2008
Ho ho ho
Now that the election is over, we can get down to business: the upcoming holiday season.
I wish there were a way to promote further Chanukah’s own identity and its importance in Jewish history. “Minor holiday,” one hears way too often. So Christians have a big holiday—the genesis of their faith—and we celebrate “just” another military victory? But like any other military victory of ours, if it had gone the other way, we wouldn’t be here. And if one studies the dominant Syrian-Greek civilization of the time, it’s chilling to consider their moral code continuing to our current era. So all beneficiaries of Western civilization—based on “Judeo-Christian values,” as our friend Pat Buchanan liked to say—should tip their hats to the Jewish heroes who fought so valiantly to preserve their Torah belief system.
It’s difficult to compete with the traditions associated with Christmas over the last several decades. The colors, the parties, the gifts, the decorations, the tree, the weather—when does Bethlehem ever get snow?—and of course, Santa Claus. With so much of the holiday aimed at children, it’s understandable that a Jewish child whose family doesn’t celebrate Christmas can feel lost or cheated. This means it’s even more important to demonstrate to a Jewish child that our tradition does matter, that we made a difference when we beat the Syrian-Greeks 2100 years ago and continue to do so.
I asked my friend and noted wise man Adam Davis about Chanukah in our modern era. His commentary:
I don't think we need a marketing ploy ala Santa Claus for Judaism as a religion. It might work, but it’s not needed. No matter where you fall in the denominational, observance or philosophical spectrum, Judaism itself has plenty of meaning that 'sells itself." The modern institutions and organizations purveying it in myriad forms, for a number of complex reasons, increasingly face some challenges with our generation and may well do so anyways. It doesn't hurt.
Our culture, a civilization, our Jewish aesthetic frowned on creating fixed images of specific individuals, lest our heroes be caricatured and lose esteem or worse, be mawkishly semi-deified.
That said, in this day and age, it should also be understood that marketing isn't simply a set of ploys. If we speak of it as putting smart strategies in place, then yes, it is needed. We can and should create tokens or platforms for Judaism, Jewish culture, life and community that affirm them, promote them in order to make our heritage more approachable, accessible and understandable.
Whether in tactical form it's Hanukah Harry, Zohan or Hebrew Hammer or something more tasteful is a more complex question that needs to be considered according to the audience, but the more meaningful touch points we offer, the more likely folks will connect with their Jewish identity.
I wish there were a way to promote further Chanukah’s own identity and its importance in Jewish history. “Minor holiday,” one hears way too often. So Christians have a big holiday—the genesis of their faith—and we celebrate “just” another military victory? But like any other military victory of ours, if it had gone the other way, we wouldn’t be here. And if one studies the dominant Syrian-Greek civilization of the time, it’s chilling to consider their moral code continuing to our current era. So all beneficiaries of Western civilization—based on “Judeo-Christian values,” as our friend Pat Buchanan liked to say—should tip their hats to the Jewish heroes who fought so valiantly to preserve their Torah belief system.
It’s difficult to compete with the traditions associated with Christmas over the last several decades. The colors, the parties, the gifts, the decorations, the tree, the weather—when does Bethlehem ever get snow?—and of course, Santa Claus. With so much of the holiday aimed at children, it’s understandable that a Jewish child whose family doesn’t celebrate Christmas can feel lost or cheated. This means it’s even more important to demonstrate to a Jewish child that our tradition does matter, that we made a difference when we beat the Syrian-Greeks 2100 years ago and continue to do so.
I asked my friend and noted wise man Adam Davis about Chanukah in our modern era. His commentary:
I don't think we need a marketing ploy ala Santa Claus for Judaism as a religion. It might work, but it’s not needed. No matter where you fall in the denominational, observance or philosophical spectrum, Judaism itself has plenty of meaning that 'sells itself." The modern institutions and organizations purveying it in myriad forms, for a number of complex reasons, increasingly face some challenges with our generation and may well do so anyways. It doesn't hurt.
Our culture, a civilization, our Jewish aesthetic frowned on creating fixed images of specific individuals, lest our heroes be caricatured and lose esteem or worse, be mawkishly semi-deified.
That said, in this day and age, it should also be understood that marketing isn't simply a set of ploys. If we speak of it as putting smart strategies in place, then yes, it is needed. We can and should create tokens or platforms for Judaism, Jewish culture, life and community that affirm them, promote them in order to make our heritage more approachable, accessible and understandable.
Whether in tactical form it's Hanukah Harry, Zohan or Hebrew Hammer or something more tasteful is a more complex question that needs to be considered according to the audience, but the more meaningful touch points we offer, the more likely folks will connect with their Jewish identity.
New stoplight at 2300 W Irving Park Rd
Driving to Lakeview on the 30th, I noticed a new stoplight ready to go online at Irving Park Road and Oakley Avenue, halfway between Western Avenue and Leavitt Street.
Sitting and sputtering along at about 6 mph on eastbound Irving Park that night, I can say with absolute confidence the last thing Irving Park needs is yet another stoplight. Irving Park tends to be heavily congested between its Kennedy Expressway ramps (at Pulaski) and Lake Shore Drive, and often for several miles west of the Kennedy as well. It’s bad for everyone except residents of Oakley Avenue who want to turn left. So thousands of motorists, truckers and bus riders are stopped daily for the convenience of a few.
This is so Chicago. I haven’t been able to track down online the approximate cost of a stoplight installation, but my guess is it is around $100,000 or more. In Chicago, this usually involves three or four posts into the ground, plus the overhead arms.
Having lived in Chicago for more than a decade, I have long decried the explosion of stop-sign installations as they sprout like weeds. Every excuse—a school (kids), a park (kids), a condo complex (old people)—is used, regardless of the actual number of pedestrians. The alderman signs off on the petition, and there’s another 24-hour traffic stop. There are several intersections in Chicago—either T-intersections or bizarre one-way configurations—in which cross-traffic is impossible. So the stop sign is there just for fun or just for the convenience of the occasional pedestrian. If you don’t believe me, I can show you in Rogers Park and the Gold Coast, respectively, these intersections.
2
w
STOP a
(A park is here.) y>>>>One way east>>>>>>>>
t STOP
r
a Fig. 1. A T-intersection with a worthless stop sign.
f
f
i
c
2
w
STOP a
<<<< 1-way west < >>>>One way east>>>>>>>>
y STOP
t
r
a Fig. 2. An intersection with no cross-flow traffic
f and a stop sign.
f
i
c
With the massive increase in vehicles and miles driven in Chicago over the past several years, we need fewer traffic controls, not more. I’m not suggesting uncontrolled intersections, like in Lincolnwood. I’m suggesting far fewer four-way stop signs. Let drivers drive! If an intersection doesn’t warrant a traffic signal, remove it and post stop signs at the minor street so the major-street traffic can continue in peace. If kids are crossing the street for a park or a school, then install an electric stop sign activated either by a timer or a janitor. There’s no reason hundreds of Metra commuters driving eastbound on Lunt to the Rogers Park train station at 6:30am in December need to screech to a complete stop for a playground used after school and on weekends when it’s nice out. (There are two of those on Lunt: near Western and near Ridge.) For one driver on one day, it’s no big deal. But the cumulative effect is thousands of dollars lost in time, gasoline and brake decay over the course of a year.
Part of the problem in Chicago is that no one pays attention to crosswalks. If police aggressively ticketed crosswalk violators—and CPD has tried enforcement zones recently—there would be no need for the flurry of stop signs, and “No Turn on Red 7am-7pm” could change to “Turning vehicles yield to pedestrians.” So much friendlier, so much time and gas saved.
Two other complaints about commuting in Chicago:
1. Chicago has no “Yield” signs. They would make slowing for an intersection legal; that’s what most people do at stop signs anyway. There are so many stop signs now they are no longer taken seriously.
2. At intersections with sparse late-night cross traffic, let the signals flash yellow on the major street and red on the minor street 11pm-6am. How much gasoline is wasted sitting at lights with no traffic? It’s outrageous.
Major Chicago streets that were once pleasant thoroughfares with lights every half-mile or so have become stop-sign minefields:
1. Sheffield Avenue
2. Halsted Street
3. Clark Street (the Grace and School signs back up traffic for blocks)
4. Sheridan Road
5. Inner Lake Shore Drive between West Sheridan Road and Belmont Avenue
6. California Avenue
7. Diversey Avenue
8. Randolph Street
9. Lake Street
10. Broadway (that Melrose stop sign is a killer)
Sitting and sputtering along at about 6 mph on eastbound Irving Park that night, I can say with absolute confidence the last thing Irving Park needs is yet another stoplight. Irving Park tends to be heavily congested between its Kennedy Expressway ramps (at Pulaski) and Lake Shore Drive, and often for several miles west of the Kennedy as well. It’s bad for everyone except residents of Oakley Avenue who want to turn left. So thousands of motorists, truckers and bus riders are stopped daily for the convenience of a few.
This is so Chicago. I haven’t been able to track down online the approximate cost of a stoplight installation, but my guess is it is around $100,000 or more. In Chicago, this usually involves three or four posts into the ground, plus the overhead arms.
Having lived in Chicago for more than a decade, I have long decried the explosion of stop-sign installations as they sprout like weeds. Every excuse—a school (kids), a park (kids), a condo complex (old people)—is used, regardless of the actual number of pedestrians. The alderman signs off on the petition, and there’s another 24-hour traffic stop. There are several intersections in Chicago—either T-intersections or bizarre one-way configurations—in which cross-traffic is impossible. So the stop sign is there just for fun or just for the convenience of the occasional pedestrian. If you don’t believe me, I can show you in Rogers Park and the Gold Coast, respectively, these intersections.
2
w
STOP a
(A park is here.) y>>>>One way east>>>>>>>>
t STOP
r
a Fig. 1. A T-intersection with a worthless stop sign.
f
f
i
c
2
w
STOP a
<<<< 1-way west < >>>>One way east>>>>>>>>
y STOP
t
r
a Fig. 2. An intersection with no cross-flow traffic
f and a stop sign.
f
i
c
With the massive increase in vehicles and miles driven in Chicago over the past several years, we need fewer traffic controls, not more. I’m not suggesting uncontrolled intersections, like in Lincolnwood. I’m suggesting far fewer four-way stop signs. Let drivers drive! If an intersection doesn’t warrant a traffic signal, remove it and post stop signs at the minor street so the major-street traffic can continue in peace. If kids are crossing the street for a park or a school, then install an electric stop sign activated either by a timer or a janitor. There’s no reason hundreds of Metra commuters driving eastbound on Lunt to the Rogers Park train station at 6:30am in December need to screech to a complete stop for a playground used after school and on weekends when it’s nice out. (There are two of those on Lunt: near Western and near Ridge.) For one driver on one day, it’s no big deal. But the cumulative effect is thousands of dollars lost in time, gasoline and brake decay over the course of a year.
Part of the problem in Chicago is that no one pays attention to crosswalks. If police aggressively ticketed crosswalk violators—and CPD has tried enforcement zones recently—there would be no need for the flurry of stop signs, and “No Turn on Red 7am-7pm” could change to “Turning vehicles yield to pedestrians.” So much friendlier, so much time and gas saved.
Two other complaints about commuting in Chicago:
1. Chicago has no “Yield” signs. They would make slowing for an intersection legal; that’s what most people do at stop signs anyway. There are so many stop signs now they are no longer taken seriously.
2. At intersections with sparse late-night cross traffic, let the signals flash yellow on the major street and red on the minor street 11pm-6am. How much gasoline is wasted sitting at lights with no traffic? It’s outrageous.
Major Chicago streets that were once pleasant thoroughfares with lights every half-mile or so have become stop-sign minefields:
1. Sheffield Avenue
2. Halsted Street
3. Clark Street (the Grace and School signs back up traffic for blocks)
4. Sheridan Road
5. Inner Lake Shore Drive between West Sheridan Road and Belmont Avenue
6. California Avenue
7. Diversey Avenue
8. Randolph Street
9. Lake Street
10. Broadway (that Melrose stop sign is a killer)
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Andy Samberg slams Mark Wahlberg on SNL
Samberg does a withering Wahlberg imitation while talking to the animals. Hilarious.
Friday, November 7, 2008
Terminator Nov. 3 (spoilers)
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
Fox
Mondays 8pm ET/PT
Episode : Brothers of Nablus
Air Date: Nov. 3, 2008
Spoilers below
Some material described below is pretty gross
In the opening sequence, LAPD Sgt. (Ret.) James Ellison reaches to open the door, and the door swings open, knocking him to the floor. Facing him is someone who appears to look exactly like him. Knowing that cyborgs can take the form of any human they choose, we know the intruder is probably another Terminator. “James Ellison?” the intruder asks. Ellison nods or says yes, the intruder reaches for his gun, and then….
….a metal rod protrudes from the intruder’s chest. We see Cromartie, a Terminator charged with killing the Connors, behind the cyborg Ellison, reaching inside him and ripping out his power source. “I believe in you more than Skynet does,” Cromartie explains to Ellison, still on the floor. “I believe you’ll lead me to the Connors.”
It’s rare that a tv episode opens with such a gory sequence. I was comforted with the thought that it wasn’t a human being impaled like that; it was just a cyborg pretending to be a human. Still. Gross.
Before heading over to Ellison’s house to take him out, the cyborg apparently strangled someone shortly after he reached this time period. LAPD arrested Sgt. Ellison because he looks just like him, but he was released when Det. Kaplan (Kaplan?) showed the judge a written statement from the witness, which made the witness sound crazy. As I suspected, Det. Kaplan turned out to be a shape-shifting cyborg Catherine Weaver, who dropped her Scottish accent for her brief role. The shape-shifting is a lot more impressive than the voice imitation that cyborgs can do.
Apparently when Weaver arrived in L.A., she took the form of a woman, killed that woman and her husband, and is now raising the woman’s 7-year-old daughter as her own. Creepy. I can’t figure out Weaver’s mission. I think she wants to track down the other cyborgs. (From what I can tell, she has plenty from which to choose.) Anyone?
It’s not often we see frum Jews on tv series that are not about frum Jews. The last time I remember such a sequence was a couple of episodes of NYPD Blue, and that was more than a decade ago. It’s probably better that way. In this episode, part of the plot—burglary of the Connors’ home—led them to a jewelry dealer/fence, who was “Moshe,” wore a kippah, and discussed the Torah and Hashem’s plans for him. He turned out to be pretty sleazy, and Jesse (Reese’s girlfriend, played by the talented Stephanie Jacobsen) shot him in the head.
Antisemitic undertones were mild or nonexistent. I caught Moshe’s kippah once, but no one commented on his Jewish identity. The discussion between Cameron and Sarah of Jacob, his daughter, and her rapist’s hometown’s mass circumcision and subsequent massacre didn’t mention Jews.
It seems the show’s writers decided to sideline Cameron’s character in favor of the Connor family unit. John decided to drop out of school, so there’s hardly any interaction between John and Cameron. She just stands around acting as the Connors’ security detail. I understand that’s her job. Still. The show drags with Cameron in the background.
Fox
Mondays 8pm ET/PT
Episode : Brothers of Nablus
Air Date: Nov. 3, 2008
Spoilers below
Some material described below is pretty gross
In the opening sequence, LAPD Sgt. (Ret.) James Ellison reaches to open the door, and the door swings open, knocking him to the floor. Facing him is someone who appears to look exactly like him. Knowing that cyborgs can take the form of any human they choose, we know the intruder is probably another Terminator. “James Ellison?” the intruder asks. Ellison nods or says yes, the intruder reaches for his gun, and then….
….a metal rod protrudes from the intruder’s chest. We see Cromartie, a Terminator charged with killing the Connors, behind the cyborg Ellison, reaching inside him and ripping out his power source. “I believe in you more than Skynet does,” Cromartie explains to Ellison, still on the floor. “I believe you’ll lead me to the Connors.”
It’s rare that a tv episode opens with such a gory sequence. I was comforted with the thought that it wasn’t a human being impaled like that; it was just a cyborg pretending to be a human. Still. Gross.
Before heading over to Ellison’s house to take him out, the cyborg apparently strangled someone shortly after he reached this time period. LAPD arrested Sgt. Ellison because he looks just like him, but he was released when Det. Kaplan (Kaplan?) showed the judge a written statement from the witness, which made the witness sound crazy. As I suspected, Det. Kaplan turned out to be a shape-shifting cyborg Catherine Weaver, who dropped her Scottish accent for her brief role. The shape-shifting is a lot more impressive than the voice imitation that cyborgs can do.
Apparently when Weaver arrived in L.A., she took the form of a woman, killed that woman and her husband, and is now raising the woman’s 7-year-old daughter as her own. Creepy. I can’t figure out Weaver’s mission. I think she wants to track down the other cyborgs. (From what I can tell, she has plenty from which to choose.) Anyone?
It’s not often we see frum Jews on tv series that are not about frum Jews. The last time I remember such a sequence was a couple of episodes of NYPD Blue, and that was more than a decade ago. It’s probably better that way. In this episode, part of the plot—burglary of the Connors’ home—led them to a jewelry dealer/fence, who was “Moshe,” wore a kippah, and discussed the Torah and Hashem’s plans for him. He turned out to be pretty sleazy, and Jesse (Reese’s girlfriend, played by the talented Stephanie Jacobsen) shot him in the head.
Antisemitic undertones were mild or nonexistent. I caught Moshe’s kippah once, but no one commented on his Jewish identity. The discussion between Cameron and Sarah of Jacob, his daughter, and her rapist’s hometown’s mass circumcision and subsequent massacre didn’t mention Jews.
It seems the show’s writers decided to sideline Cameron’s character in favor of the Connor family unit. John decided to drop out of school, so there’s hardly any interaction between John and Cameron. She just stands around acting as the Connors’ security detail. I understand that’s her job. Still. The show drags with Cameron in the background.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Election wrapup
As Michael Medved frequently notes on his radio show, it’s more fun and interesting to talk politics with someone whose views disagree with one’s own. I certainly had that opportunity last night at AIPAC’s Ballots and Beer biannual election party at John Barleycorn in Lakeview. Most of the attendees were Obama partisans, and I enjoyed the chance to discuss their choices and the president-elect’s plans for his first term.
It was a big night for tax-and-spend liberal Democrats in Illinois. Sen. Barack Obama for president: a 3-2 margin. Sen. Dick Durbin: re-elected to a third term, G-d help us, by a 2-1 margin. Rep. Jan Schakowsky: re-elected to a sixth term, G-d help us, by a 3-1 margin. Rep. Rahm Emanuel, perhaps the new White House Chief of Staff: easily re-elected to a fourth term. Illinois Rep. Julie “Taxaholic” Hamos: unopposed for re-election. The constitutional convention, opposed by every politician, desperate to protect his job: handily defeated.
I was pleased that the people of North Carolina sent Sen. Liddy Dole (R.-N.C.) off to a happy retirement. Her speech last night was gracious and polite. That was not the tone of her campaign in its final days, however. Her “G-dless Americans” attack ad, accusing her opponent, a Christian, of being an atheist, was one of the worst I’ve seen. Instead of gracefully stepping aside when she realized the campaign was lost, as she did last night, she “approved this message” of nasty mudslinging. I’m not familiar with her performance in Washington during her one term as U.S. Senator. For her sleazy, embarrassing campaign, Mrs. Dole deserved to lose her job.
I’m delighted Minnesotans returned Sen. Norm Coleman (R) to the U.S. Senate, defeating commentator Al Franken. Franken can do hilarious Henry Kissinger and Rush Limbaugh imitations, but he’s a left-wing extremist and shouldn’t be Senator. And thank G-d, after both sides spent about $74 mil, it appears that Prop. 8 passed by four points in California, preserving traditional marriage in the nation’s most populous state.
It was a big night for tax-and-spend liberal Democrats in Illinois. Sen. Barack Obama for president: a 3-2 margin. Sen. Dick Durbin: re-elected to a third term, G-d help us, by a 2-1 margin. Rep. Jan Schakowsky: re-elected to a sixth term, G-d help us, by a 3-1 margin. Rep. Rahm Emanuel, perhaps the new White House Chief of Staff: easily re-elected to a fourth term. Illinois Rep. Julie “Taxaholic” Hamos: unopposed for re-election. The constitutional convention, opposed by every politician, desperate to protect his job: handily defeated.
I was pleased that the people of North Carolina sent Sen. Liddy Dole (R.-N.C.) off to a happy retirement. Her speech last night was gracious and polite. That was not the tone of her campaign in its final days, however. Her “G-dless Americans” attack ad, accusing her opponent, a Christian, of being an atheist, was one of the worst I’ve seen. Instead of gracefully stepping aside when she realized the campaign was lost, as she did last night, she “approved this message” of nasty mudslinging. I’m not familiar with her performance in Washington during her one term as U.S. Senator. For her sleazy, embarrassing campaign, Mrs. Dole deserved to lose her job.
I’m delighted Minnesotans returned Sen. Norm Coleman (R) to the U.S. Senate, defeating commentator Al Franken. Franken can do hilarious Henry Kissinger and Rush Limbaugh imitations, but he’s a left-wing extremist and shouldn’t be Senator. And thank G-d, after both sides spent about $74 mil, it appears that Prop. 8 passed by four points in California, preserving traditional marriage in the nation’s most populous state.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
