Erdos Had The Number First

Ok, I’m reading this (pretty much fluffy) blog entry about (mostly) Alan Kay. Kay
has done some truly astounding work in his field. He’s also closely associated with the $100 laptop project, which I have written about before.

But, in this article, the guy who wrote it goes on to say this:

There are hundreds of things that every culture anthropologists have ever studied have in common. But what they don’t all have in common are the ideas most of us consider to be the most important: reading and writing, equal rights, abstract math, perspective drawing, theory of harmony, agriculture, legal systems, and science are some examples. These are powerful ideas ant they’re rare. Formal education isn’t needed to teach the universals. Formal education is needed to teach the non-universals.

What? Equal Rights is an idea common to every culture? Harmony? Agriculture for gods sake? One of the things about this attitude that I just don’t understand is that they really think they’re right. This is the same kind of attitude that makes people smile when they see Amish because, you know, they’re quaint. Cultural imperialism really doesn’t bother me, but being WRONG does.

I don’t know if they $100 laptop will be as profound as movable type and the gutenberg press. I do, however, know that artifice is as artifice always is: simply a material part of culture. I wish people would stop romantizing this kind of stuff.

When I was an undergrad, prior to my junior year[1] and having better access to computers in the physics building, I pretty much lived in the public labs in the basement of Fellows Hall. That was also where the Dino Pen was, and it was always better to be closer to the VAX and the RS6000 that I eventually fought to get access to.

Anyway, a lot has changed in the world of public labs since then. I’m typing this at one of the few public labs at GMU where I am currently taking classes. It’s friday morning and there are only two other poeple in here. One of them I think is the lab monitor. So many people have laptops and/or have their own computers that public labs are, I suspect, a dying thing. Couple that with the extensive WiFi coverage on campus and there is really very little reason to have public labs.

Hell, the only reason I’m here is that I left my 15lbs laptop at home to spare my aging back.

So, I’m nosing around, testing some stuff and I come across a 404 message at
Think Geek that tells me not to do what I just did again, because it won’t help.

The message, it seems, is static, because when I defy the warning message, it just repeats itself. Alas, I thought I was on to something.

Honestly, I’m not sure which is the stranger: the story or the fact that it ran on

Al Jazeera’s English language website. Since I don’t read Arabic, I can’t tell if it’s on that part of the site. But anyway, it seems that the
Gay penguins are being enticed to breed (so their species doesn’t go extinct) and there seems to be some debate about the ethics of ‘turning’ gay penguins straight.

I’m still waiting to hear back from the penguin ambassador to find out if the penguins actually self-identify as gay, or if they are just on the bi now, gay later plan (or the third option ‘I was in college’). until I hear back, I’m going to withhold judgment.

So, I’m midway through The Rebbe’s Army.

So far, it’s a really good book. I wasn’t expecting such a positive look at the Chabadniks, but then again I’m not surprised it’s so positive. If that makes sense. Part of this is that I really didn’t know all that much about the Lubavitchers before reading this book.

Now, I know a little more, but I still wouldn’t consider myself “well versed”. The only thing I’ve really formed an opinion on is that the rest of the Jewish Community needs to better understand the Hasidim in general.

The book (many times) talks about how the Lubavitch send out troops, they set up a school, and that school is cheaper than an existing Jewish school and conflict arises. The problem is that Chabad strikes right at the vulnerable heart of many synagogues: the money. The problem (as I see it) is that the Chabaniks understand The Money so much better than the other Jews it’s not even funny.

She even quotes a New Jersey Rabbi[1] who notes that the another school:

…”loses kids every year to Lubavitch.” He claims it’s not because the education they get at Chabad is better. In his opinion, Chabad day schools provide a “narrow Jewish education,” with little Hebrew or Jewish history, no Zionist history, and an overemphasis on Talmud and Hasidic mysticism. It’s just dollars and cents, “so the parents can build another jacuzzi.”

Holy Crap! If this guy was my Rabbi I’d send my kids to another school, too. People do things because they think its the best option, not because they want Jacuzzis. The best option may, in some cases, include a jacuzzi for the family, but that kind of accusation does not help anyone. It is, in fact, absurd.

It is the job of the leadership to lead the congregation. If they are losing their congregants, maybe they should look at themselves rather than at the Chabad.

Having myself had terrible experiences with synagogues I know it is very refreshing to go to services and be accepted, and have people happy to see you there (NOTE: I’m not planning on going over to the Chabad any time soon, but trust me, for men their services are quite accepting and engaging).

My point is, however, that Chabad has the leadership and many of the other synagogues do NOT. This is the root of the problem.