All together now… m.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZLq...

Until my feed gets less depressing, I’m gonna post barbershop quartet videos to cheer me up. Fortunately, the Barbershop Harmony Society had enough to last me for a really long time. Here’s a stupidly funny gag from “high, loud, and buzzing” masters First Take: m.youtube.com/watch?v=b4eW...

My current favorite performance. Arranged and performed with deceptive simplicity and brilliance. So damn good: m.youtube.com/watch?v=oem8...

Okay, everyone. Stop the doomscrolling, and take three hours to enjoy some obscenely fantastic barbershop singing. After you find your favorite groups, you can go down a rabbit hole of their past performances. It’s better than whatever else you’re looking at, I promise: m.youtube.com/watch?v=L1aD...

First time taking one of @rokhl.bsky.social ‘s classes and enjoyed it greatly. If you’ve got the time and a few bucks to spare, consider learning a bit…

There are people online who firmly believe that political candidates who share with 80% of their preferences are not worth voting for when running against candidates who share 0% of them, and I really don’t get it…

May The Good Lord bless the person who decided that the NJ rest stop midway between my home and Lakewood should be the Jon Bon Jovi one, so that each time we pass it, The Lovely Wife(tm) and I can belt out “We’re halfway there” and annoy the snot out of the kids…

Really like this piece from Rabbi Guy Austrian: www.sourcesjournal.org/articles/in-...

Joker origin story:

Gave blood yesterday for the first time in a few months. I don’t believe I noticed it last time, but the pre-donation questionnaire has FINALLY been updated to remove any reference to same-sex activity as a risk factor. If you can give blood, please do so…

A diagnostic questionnaire used to evaluate the severity of nasal problems is officially known as the Sino-Nasal Outcome Test or SNOT. Not sure if I should giggle or be disappointed…

For those who might not have heard it: here’s a BBC “desert island music” interview with Tom Lehrer from 1980. Not at all surprising that we have a few overlaps: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/d...

“When you attend a funeral/ it’s sad to think that sooner’r/ later those you love will do the same for you” Always a favorite. RIP and thanks for everything…

*Grumblegrumble three weeks grumblegrumble* OTOH, I now know what I’m listening to at 12:01 on 10 Av…

Been a while since I’ve done a #JewishLearning thread, but must publicize @seforimchatter.bsky.social ‘s latest with R’ Moshe Taragin, discussing R’ Amital zt"l. A beautiful discussion of a beloved figure: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s...

Woo! And Hoo!

Quick PSA: Antisemites are responsible for antisemitism. Not Jews. Not even *those* Jews. Or *those*.

It is possible to be a Mamdani supporter without being an antisemite/kapo. It is possible to vehemently oppose Mamdani because of his past statements on Israel without being a fascist/sell-out. Please do better.

Three months in a row making it to shacharit on Rosh Chodesh on time because I scheduled my alarm properly! #ADHDLifeCelebrations

New proposal: for the next few years, Orthodox Jewish congregations can only hire heterodox-trained rabbis and vice versa. Ortho congregations need creative leadership, non-O rabbis deserve a committed laity, and Ortho rabbis should learn what the general Jewish population actually looks like…

Trump may not be an antisemite, but a lot of right-wing antisemites like what he says & does. Mamdami may not be an antisemite, but a lot of left-wing antisemites like what he says & does. Both having significant populations of Jewish supporters doesn’t change that.

Done. As fast a purchase as I’ve made in some time…

Not to dismiss ANY of the horrors out there, but I’m gonna periodically remind my inner child that we live in a timeline where Weird Al is still culturally relevant, more popular than ever, and seems like an all-around great guy (I think I knew every one of the songs too, for what it’s worth)

Reminder: The people with actual knowledge & expertise in international affairs are almost never going to speak in absolute terms about any policy being exclusively“good” or “bad;” they’ll discuss risk levels and outcome ranges…

Not sure where I first heard about this book, but it is one of the most essential and infuriating reads I have ever experienced. How the hell is this not a bipartisan social priority?

So that the children should ask…

Going down the rabbit hole of the number of translations & emendations suggested for this one verse, and might never see air again:

People being vulnerable, polite, helpful, and understanding? More of this, please:

Only important thing I need to know, and nobody’s telling me: Skokie or Rogers Park?

I want anti-Israel protesters on college campus to be free to promulgate their viewpoints. I want their opponents to be free to call them out as hateful antisemites. I want the colleges to consistently enforce their safety & security policies and discipline those who defy them. Not hard, folks…

יום העצמאות שמח May I never lose sight of the profound miracle that is the formation and survival of מדינת ישראל. May my appreciation and celebration of that miracle never blind me to the real challenges and shortcomings of that מדינה and its supporters of all stripes and religious ideologies.

Uh-oh, you’ve ticked off the LIBRARIANS?! That is NOT going to end well…

I very rarely use profanity in print, so apologies for the followers who care about such things. It won’t be too often, but . . . Fuck ALS.

“I wish they’d make a Broadway version of that TV show about the pie baker who could resurrect people,” I said lackadaisically…

Latest “For Heaven’s Sake” podcast ends with a beautiful discussion of the seder that I didn’t know I needed right now. Maybe you do too: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/f...

He did something besides that Sondheim TV musical? Who knew?

Okay, so 99% percent of this is just horrifying, but the “herring on picks” looks like a gussied-up version of kiddush staples that I grew up with, and I want some now…

So, just finished last night. Very glad I did. An odd mashup of biography, personal memoir, speculation about the philosophy and implications of taxonomy, but generally holds together nicely and very well written, with some beautiful illustrations opening each chapter.

I fully expect at LEAST a half dozen overdubs of this video (“A Whole New World” comes to mind, but I’m sure there’s more creative ones out there)…

Just read the prologue. Stopped, turned back to page 1, and read it again. If the rest of this book is half as good, I’m in for an insane treat…

Feel good story of the day. Tina Louise, the actress best known as Ginger from “Gilligan’s Island,” tutoring public school kids. More of this, please: www.nytimes.com/2025/03/18/n...

עד ביאת הגואל I miss you, Ima…

Nothing like a little light reading…

“I don’t care if I get hurt so long as the people I despise get hurt more” has got to be the most asinine political sentiment ever. Why the hell is it so prevalent?

I don’t think I’ve experienced a show that so clearly expects you to put your left brain on “park” like Reacher. It’s so dumb yet so careful to tiptoe up to the line of self-awareness without crossing it that it’s a peculiar genius.

“There are heroes in this world/ princes and heroes in this world” www.nytimes.com/2025/03/04/o...

It’s weird to think that I last read these when I was roughly the same age as the protagonist, and am coming back to them at the same age as his father. #ShabbatReads

Even better, learn the damn songs yourself and have a singalong. Finding out that my grandmother, who at the time didn’t regularly remember my name, could still sing and laugh along to “I Cain’t Say No” was a spot of light in an incredibly dark time…

1942. The Warsaw Ghetto. The Piacetzna Rebbe is able to somehow deliver this line (Esh Kodesh, parshtat Yitro). One of the most stunning pieces imaginable:

Hey, techelet wearers! We got us another candidate!