Jul 15th, 2010
by rabbifink.
Last night I saw an interested post on Gizmodo.com, a favorite technology blog of mine.
Google Maps has sattelite pictures of nearly the entire world. When you take pictures of everything, you’re going to catch some funny things.
Google has satelite pictures and “Street View” pictures which are (the ultimate stalking tool and) depict the view from the street. Most of the wacky Google Maps pictures are Street View pictures.
For a change, Gizmodo found a really cool satellite picture.
A crazy looking plane just above a residential street was spotted.
The street was Rose Avenue. The cross street was Lincoln Avenue. That is exactly where the Pacific Jewish Center Annex is located. (more…)
Nov 6th, 2009
by rabbifink.
KCET (the local PBS affiliate) has been working on a city-wide project. It is called Departures and it focuses on the people and places that make the neighborhoods of Los Angeles. For the last six weeks they have been working on Venice. Today they came to the Pacific Jewish Center Shul on the Beach to learn about us and to be included in their upcoming Venice piece.
It was a true honor and privilege to be a part of this worthwhile project. The production should be finished in February and I look forward to seeing that.
The camera crew shot some footage of our morning services and did two interviews. (more…)
Oct 16th, 2009
by rabbifink.
While the blog was down a very interesting Op-Ed appeared in the New York Times.
A journalist had a discussion with a man who could explain how the financial industry collapsed last year in one sentence.
Intrigued, the journalist pressed the man to explain. The answer? Wall Street got too smart.
In the old days, the Wall Street guys were not the top of their class, they were the jocks and slackers.
But now, all the MIT brainiacs are going to Wall Street.
Huh? If they were so smart how did they mess the whole thing up?
They were too smart. (more…)
Aug 10th, 2009
by rabbifink.
Finding the perfect blog URL is an adventure. The choices are endless and one’s mood can affect one’s opinion tremendously, leading to potential buyer’s remorse.
As I talked on the phone with my blog consultant, Judd Magilnick, we searched for the perfect concept. Our ideas ranged from the ultra bland, finkblog.com to the ultra creative ifinkican.com. We were having a hard time agreeing and my family was nixing just about every suggestion. (more…)
Jul 19th, 2009
by rabbifink.
One of my favorite gadget blogs ran a despicable headline for a post yesterday. Gizmodo is a great blog when it comes to getting information, reviews and opinions on the latest technology and gadgets. Unfortunately, yesterday they disgraced their reputation with a pretty offensive headline.
The headline garnered enough attention that they ultimately changed it to something less offensive.
(more…)
Jul 14th, 2009
by rabbifink.
During the summer months many people find some extra time to catch up on their reading. By reading, I mean books with paper, ink, covers and turning pages. I don’t mean on a backlit display plugged into an electrical outlet.
This summer, I have been too busy to do any real substantive offline reading. I have done a lot of online reading, but my book reading has fallen behind.
One exception has been DovBear on the Parsha, and you can read my review here.
Part of the reason for this is that in my “spare time” I usually end up reading up on Law School materials. I actually enjoy reading cases and Law Review articles, so my reading of other stuff has fallen a bit behind.
There is plenty of summer left and I thought it would be nice to provide some of my all time favorite reads and a quick note about why I like each book.
(more…)
Jun 18th, 2009
by rabbifink.
Yesterday I flew cross country. Our route: LAX —> JFK.
Something profound happened aboard that aircraft and that is the point behind this post.
While cruising at 30,000 feet we witnessed an amazing sight. (more…)
Jun 8th, 2009
by rabbifink.
This blog post is about men learning at work. By learning, I mean studying Torah.
I taught a class today at Teichman Enterprises.
It was a really great experience and I was inspired and I want to share my feelings with you.
If you are looking for the Australian musical artists known as Men at Work who sing that great song called “Down Under” (the one the “Piamentas” ripped off and sing to the words “Asher Bara”) click here for Men at Work.
If you don’t know what I am talking about watch these two videos…
(more…)
Jun 7th, 2009
by rabbifink.
June 6th. An auspicious date in history.
For most it a day known as D-Day. The day the Allies invaded Normandy.
I have the greatest respect and appreciation for the massive Ally effort to maintain freedom in our world. Thank you.
If you want to see more about that click here.
For others, it is also T-Day. What is T-Day? Nothing, I just made it up.
But it is the birthday of perhaps the greatest video game of all time. (more…)
Feb 23rd, 2009
by rabbifink.
I am sure you have noticed the new Tropicana Advertisements.
The ads are concurrent with their new branding and packaging. The ads are noted for their use of male figures (that is pretty rare…).
Now the ads are being pulled and the packaging is returning to the old packaging which we all remember and love.
(more…)
Feb 19th, 2009
by rabbifink.
I love technology. My world is full of iPhones, digital cameras, blogs and Wii. There are a lot of people who adhere to a stricter Jewish lifestyle than mine. Their world is without these toys. The main objection to these tech toys is the access they provide to content that could be dangerous to a spiritual lifestyle. (more…)
Jan 4th, 2009
by rabbifink.
The Amazing iPhone Siddur (iTunes link – will open iTunes) has impressed me from day 1. I was in my Camp Regesh office on Tisha B’Av talking to my friend / colleague Mo Kiss. I had just got my iPhone and he tells me about a friend of ours who does web development who had just finished coding a siddur for the iPhone. The application is impressive with the full range of Tefillos for all nuschaos and all the brachos you could ever need. The siddur knows when to add special sections for special days like Rosh Chodesh and the Torah reading for Moday and Thursday is automatically adjusted to the day’s reading. Additional it uses the built in GPS to find the nearest Minyan as well as all the pertinent zmanim such as sunrise, sunset, candle lighting times and havdala times. All these features are great and I purchased the application for these basic features. I use it and recommend it to friends. It is nothing short of ingenious.
What prompted this post is the latest feature the have added. There is now a section for each user to add their own “misheberach” list (prayer for sick people) and it pops into your iPhone siddur at the appropriate spots. This is a great addition on its own but the most beautiful thing that has been added is the fact that this list can be shared with all the other iPhone siddur users. This means that if you allow your list to be public then anyone with the application can also pray for the people on your list and you can pray for anyone on their lists. That is amazing. Now misheberach lists can be shared effortlessly across the world! We can all pray for complete strangers who are sick using their full Jewish name. What a tremendous service and idea this is! That is worth a blog post! I must say that this idea is incredible and I hope it is used across the board. Anyone who has an iPhone or iPod Touch should pay the $10 for the application and use it. Especially the misheberach list feature…
Last night I saw an interested post on Gizmodo.com, a favorite technology blog of mine.
Yesterday I flew from New York to Los Angeles. We got to the airport just under 3 hours before our flight. This is a direct result of missing a few flights in the last few years. We always err on the side of caution.
