Yuter chimes in on relationships:

Why buy the cow, when you can get the milk for free?”
The usual interpretation is that since men are only interested in one thing. Once they get it, they would see no need for a commitment i.e. marriage. I think the same logic holds true for women. Assume the popular myth that women want an emotional connection of some sort. If there is a “nice guy” around, she can the emotional support she needs from someone without having to commit. She may be able to confide in him, have him work around her apartment, help her with just about any crisis, and she doesn’t have to make any sort of commitment back to him. The guy will obviously put up with it, because after all, he’s “nice” and this is what nice people do.
So if there's a person who is willing to do all this for you - with nothing in return, why would you consider a serious relationship with this person? You can go find someone else who is cooler, richer, better looking, or anything else and still have that "nice" person around when you need him or if nothing else works out.
Cow, Milk, Free.

Slate evaluates milk alternatives, and finds them pretty lacking.

Friend of the Elders Channanya Weissman, who's running an End The Madness event in Far Rockaway tonight, sounds off on the Jewish Mating Dance. See? See? We don't automatically mock everything in the JP...

This really has nothing to do with anything, except that I think its funny:

German scientists say a woman’s rational thought disappears when she goes shopping.
Researchers at the University of Munster in Germany said female shoppers simply lose the ability to think straight.
They measured the electrical activity in the part of the brain which deals with common sense and rational thought in female shoppers.
They discovered the part of the brain governing the emotions and pleasant feelings was in overdrive, says the Daily Record.
The scientists also found men experience a similar loss of control when offered the chance to buy electrical gadgets, fast cars and computer games.

Tomorrow:

10 a.m. -- High school students rally outside home of alleged Nazi criminal Jakiw Palij on 65th anniversary of Kristallnacht; 3318 89th Street, Jackson Heights.

--Contact: Rambam Mesivta, 516-371-5824, X105.

2 p.m. -- Monks of the Staten Island Buddhist Vihara discuss Buddhist philosophy; Jacques Marchais Museum of Tibetan Art, 338 Lighthouse Avenue.

2:15 p.m. -- New Yorkers march in Bryant Park to protest Israel's recognition of ``separation wall'' in Israeli-Palestinian conflict; northwest corner of Bryant Park, 42nd Street and Sixth Avenue.

Watching Sidney Blumenthal talk on C-SPAN2 right now, and discussing the pardon of Marc Rich, he mentions that Ehud Barak had pleaded with Clinton, and that Rich's pardon was considered very important to the Mossad, among other Israeli agencies, in large part because he was funding a lot of their activities. I don't recall ever having seen this in any reportage (Blumenthal mentions that it's in his book, which I've yet to read).

In the second half of the episode of "Calling All Cooks" on the Food Network right now, Sandi Goldfarb will be making her noodle kugel.
The host describes it as "a traditional dish for Rosh Hashana."
Goldfarb's husband isn't Jewish, but gained exposure to Jewish stuff while working on a kibbutz many years ago.
The host is at first dumb-founded by the inclusion of apples in the kugel. Interesting thing -- she slices them in the food processor, as opposed to going for chunky; I imagine I'd like that.
The story of the recipe is the teaser throughout the episode, and it turns out that Goldfarb's mother got it while in line at the supermarket before a holiday from a fellow shopper; she wrote it down on the grocery bag and ended up using it instead.
It includes butter, so it can't be all that traditional. Hmm, sour cream, too.
It probably makes a pretty good kugel.
Oh, and there's fiddle-music playing in the background at the end...cute.

It is with great trepidation that I temporarily fill the shoes of Elder Avraham to unveil this week's Jewish Press Stupid Letter of the Week. And, indeed, there is so much to sort out among this roster of highly-qualified candidates.
What to choose? The first thing that comes to mind is the JP's own entry, a response to a complaint about their endorsements for recent elections. Then there's the effort by a previous article-writer to complete a follow-up by just mailing it in. There's more back-and-forth on the "singles crisis," and at the end there's a hilarious letter about frum people at concerts that'll surely mark the beginning of a new back-and-forth. But the top three are the ravings of a racist, the finger-pointing by someone who thinks Agudah is just too kind to Edah-types, and a completely meandering letter that seems to call for some kind of Jewish Democratic Congress to battle intermarriage and assimilation. Which one is worthy of S.L.O.W.? Hmmm...
Eenie, meenie, miney, Mo-ron:

Arab-Americans` Growing Influence

It`s interesting that so many Arab-Americans, already viciously anti-Israel, now attack the Israeli security fence and excoriate Israel for being so audacious as to defend itself. And Arabs loudly object to America`s self-defense via the Patriot Act — how dare a nation try to weed out potential perpetrators of more 9/11s? Also outrageous to Arabs is our noble operation in Iraq, cleaning out the murderous regime of a brutal dictator believed by most Western intelligence services to possess
weapons of mass destruction.
Also interesting is that these Arab views find a home in the Democratic party, as Arab-Americans cut and run from the GOP as quickly as they embraced it. Democratic candidates expressing other than hostility to Israel or American homeland defense receive surly receptions from Arab political audiences.
These views come from an ethnic group with a middle-class orientation, politically attuned and concentrated in a few states. Arab political influence will grow rapidly, and it pushes views anathema to American and Jewish interests. Jews should wake up to this very real political threat rather than
waste our considerable talents promoting the "wonderful mosaic."

Steve Goldstein
Fort Lee, NJ

Chris Suellentrop gets the Democratic candidates to talk about their faiths, and seems to do a little match-making toward the end.

In case I don't get around to writing more senryu this week, here's Last year's Parsha Senryu, Parshas Lekh Lekha.

What's that site where you can ask the Jews questions? (via Jarvis)
Wacky!

Mike is tracking anti-abortion groups utilizing pictures of the Holocaust to illustrate their point.

Friday:

10:30 a.m. -- Chief Rabbi of Israel Yona Metzger discusses the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; Wool Auditorium, Park East Synagogue, 164 E. 68th St., between Lexington and Third avenues.

11 a.m. -- U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft addresses the national meeting of the Anti-Defamation League; Plaza Hotel

AKS:

Every journalist covers at least one story during their career that stands out in dramatically in their memory. For me, that story will always be the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. I was in the square the night he was killed, covering the peace rally for The Jerusalem Post. The crowd had dispersed, and I went quickly to my apartment two blocks away to write and file my story. And then I heard the news.

A friend at the JTA just sent me an article from the Jewish Journal North of Boston, which is about J-blogs, but doesn't appear to be on their website (now, really, how much does that say about J-weeklies?).
Anyway, it's a decent piece that mostly quotes different bloggers at length to try to give a sense of what's being written. It oddly refers to posts as "articles."
Anyway, it mentions (in order of appearance):
Heimishtown
Ocean Guy
Klezmer Shack
Aidel Maidel
Hasidic Rebel
And Protocols.
I'm not gonna type up the whole article, especially since it's mostly quotes from the blogs, but here's the concluding graf about Protocols:

Protocols is where "a group of Jews endeavors towards total domination of the blogosphere." Unlike the other solo efforts, Protocols draws on the strengths of five contributors who troll the Internet and print media for Jewish content and then give their own take. The entries are consistently timely, well-written and thought-provoking. Recent topics of discussion include a look at the film "Trembling Before G-d", the historical validity of the Rosh Hashanah/Yom Kippur prayer Unetanteh Tokef, and the halachic implications of pre-emptive shootings of hijacked civilian airlines [http://protocols.blogspot.com]. If you only have time for one Jewish blog, make this the one.

Reader Shaya sends in a review of the Trembling Before G-D DVD.

Diana Moon is back to blogging. Hmm, her and Pilcher in the same 24-hour period...makes you wonder; nobody's ever seen them in the same place at the same time, right?

I'm not sure if this was previously linked, but these paragraphs from Alan Mittleman's response to the secular college pamphlet issue are amazing and deserve to be posted:

There is a cautionary tale here about the neglect of theology. Modern Orthodoxy for too long has relied on sociology—familism, solidarity, youth groups, institutional loyalties—instead of intellectually sophisticated apologetics. It has written off the bolder elements of its own Hirschian legacy, let alone any ongoing engagement with modern philosophy, in favor of an increasingly otherworldly fundamentalism. Its synagogues have jettisoned the hoary Hertz Pentateuch, which, to be sure, was florid in its Victorian prose but also honest in its confrontation with modern scholarship, in favor of the rigidly fundamentalist Art Scroll translation. Likewise, Modern Orthodoxy’s immense success in building up a socially vibrant culture in the American suburbs has distracted it from the requisite intellectual task of providing depth and justification for its way of life.
Perhaps American multiculturalism and postmodernism have blunted the urgency of the need. Perhaps the thunder on the Orthodox right has made adherents of Modern Orthodoxy nervous about the deep engagement with culture that good theology requires. Perhaps durable American optimism has persuaded them that you can have it all, contradictions be damned. Whatever the case, the result is the melancholy dilemma reflected in the “Parent’s Guide to Orthodox Assimilation on Campus”—eager participation in the American dream, accompanied by unsettling American nightmares.

Today:

10 a.m. -- The Anti-Defamation League's national commission meeting; The Plaza Hotel, Fifth Avenue at Central Park South.
--10:30 a.m. _ ADL director Abraham Foxman delivers opening address on ``Why Anti-Semitism Now?''; Baroque Ballroom.
--11:30 a.m. _ Anti-Semitism: The U.S. Government Response.
--12:30 p.m. _ Presentation of the ADL Daniel Pearl Award to New York Times foreign affairs columnist Thomas Friedman; Grand Ballroom.
--2:30 p.m. _ Mel Gibson's ``The Passion'' A Conversation on its Implications for Jews and Christians, moderated by Abraham Foxman; Baroque Ballroom.

From the Jewish Press cover story:

Nearly 60 percent of Europeans say that Israel represents the greatest threat to world peace, according to a survey of more than 7,500 residents of European Union countries.
The poll, called the Eurobarometer and conducted by the European Commission, offered respondents a list of 15 countries along with the question, “For each of the following countries, tell me whether or not in your opinion it presents a threat to peace in the world.
Fifty-nine percent of the Europeans questioned chose Israel as the greatest threat to world peace, ahead of such countries as Iran, North Korea, Syria and Libya.
The U.S. was tagged as the greatest threat to peace by more than half – 53 percent – of the respondents.

Peter Beinart got married nearly two weeks ago! Where're those OnlySimchas fakers on this one?
(via 601am)

I just found out that Jewsweek editor Benyamin Cohen is cousins with Slate's Eric Umansky. Wacky!

Brad Pilcher is back to blogging. Scroll up to read what it's like when your mom is your missionary, and Pilcher's prude-like attitude to high school kids making pornographic films.

A MAJORITY OF AMERICANS CANNOT NAME A SINGLE DEPARTMENT IN THE PRESIDENT’S CABINET.

Washington, DC – Most Americans are unable to identify even a single department in the United States Cabinet, according to a recent national poll of 800 adults. Specifically, the survey found that a majority (58%) could not provide any department names whatsoever; 41% could. Only 4% of those surveyed specified at least five of the 19 executive-level departments, a figure comparable to the poll’s overall margin of error (+/-3.5%).

Prof. James Davila discusses the gematiculator:

I just noticed that the graphic for good uses a cross and the graphic for evil uses what appears to be a Star of David. I don't care about the first, but the second makes me distinctly uncomfortable. Am I reading this correctly or is there some deep Kabbalistic symbolism I'm missing?

New J-bloggers. Over at Kesher Talk, Joanne Palmer's been blogging for a couple of weeks, and Jewschool has added Ephraim Shapiro and John Brown.

See Natalie Herschlag in a Japanese shampoo ad.

Heimishtown's Cookie writes:

But now that I know you're a bunch of sweet YU guys, maybe I'll start thinking teddy bears when I hear "Protocols"

Naomi Chana comes through with an absolutely stunningly brilliant post about history in Harry Potter and in general. Well worth the read.

You can't make this stuff up:

Valentina Kunda, chairwoman of the department for civil affairs of Ukraine's Justice Ministry said, two young parents decided to register their babyboy's name, Jesus Christ, a year ago. Employees of the local marriage registration office tried to talk the young couple out of such an endeavor. They particularly said that if a boy grows and then has a son, his son's patronymic will sound absolutely insane - Jesuschristovich (in the Slavic manner).

I don't know how this happened, but...

Even more incredibly, http://www.yu.edu weighs in at an astounding 5% evil and 95% good!! It seems that Richard Joel has made an immediate and positive impact. (Thanks Potter)

Was looking for my articles in the Forward to send a pitch, and came across this Forward story on Easterbrook that I'd missed.

Faith & Healing on the cover of the current Newsweek. Bias is revealed in paragraphs such as the one below the break that begins, "All over the medical establishment, legitimate scientists are seeking the most ethical, effective ways to combine patients’ spiritual and religious beliefs with high-tech treatment." [Emphasis mine] Because normally legitimate scientists wouldn't or shouldn't be concerned with such things? Then, after a paragraph about the "legitimate scientists" exploring the connection between faith and health, the next begins, "Modern medicine, of course, still demands scientific proof on top of anecdotal evidence." What gives? The author -- not a scientist -- is inserting skepticism into an article about how real scientists explore real connections between faith and science; on what grounds -- on what arrogant sense of legitimacy -- can she deign to do so?
And then there's the wacky way that non-scientific approaches by skeptics to the scientific data is seen as legitimate (I know that's a mouthful):

One nugget, however, “blew my socks off,” Powell says. People who regularly attend church have a 25 percent reduction in mortality—that is, they live longer—than people who are not churchgoers. This is true even after controlling for variables intrinsically linked to Sundays in the pew, like social support and healthy lifestyle. While the data were culled mainly from Christian churchgoers, Powell says the findings should apply to any organized religion. “This is really powerful,” she says.

Using brain scans, researchers have discovered that meditation can change brain activity and improve immune response; other studies have shown it can lower heart rate and blood pressure, both of which reduce the body’s stress response. (Most religions incorporate meditative practices, like chanting or prayer, into their traditions.)

Even intangibles, such as the impact of forgiveness, may boost health as well.

And the studies prompt questions that no one, not even the best scientists, will ever be able to answer: Can one extra prayer mean the difference between life and death? Can prayer be dosed, the way medicines are? Does harder praying mean better treatment by God? In the minds of many, especially theologians, those questions border on the sacrilegious. “To think that God would only respond to the group that was prayed for and leave the other group out in the dark is based on total misconceptions of how God responds to prayer,” says Cynthia Cohen, a senior research fellow at the Kennedy Institute of Ethics at Georgetown University. “God is not a machine who responds mechanically.”

Other experts worry, however, that faith can sometimes interfere with a patient’s journey through illness. Dr. Suki Tepperberg, a family physician in Dorchester, Mass., has concerns about those who put too much faith in God’s will. One of her patients, a Jehovah’s Witness who has diabetes and hypertension, believes her illness is in God’s hands and she sometimes eats destructively, harming her health. Tepperberg is worried that, while this woman could take better care of herself, “she believes God really is the ultimate decision-maker.” In her review of the literature, Powell found several studies suggesting that praying with a sick person can sometimes impede recovery; one study concluded that the risk of a bad health outcome doubled, perhaps because patients believed God would protect them or that their illness was some kind of divine punishment.

Interpreting disease as retribution for sin has its roots in the Bible—Miriam and King Uzziah were struck with leprosy after offending their God—and it continues to haunt many patients today...Those who thought God was punishing them or abandoning them were up to 30 percent more likely to die over the next two years."

Another interesting Daily News piece on a Jewish bullfighter from Brooklyn.

Jackie Mason's back! And, as the New York Daily News reports, all the jokes are new. All is well with the universe.

Slate review of tonight's ABC special on whether Jesus had a wife, faults the program for making too much of a novel. But a more enduring critique would wonder why the major way that religion makes the news is when discussing the lives of Biblical characters: religion is something of the present and in the present, but you wouldn't know it from specials like this.

At the conclusion of an Explainer on why Kenyans win marathons, Brendan Koerner writes:

Author John Manners, who has trained with the Kalenjins on their home turf, has opined that the tribe's cattle-herding background might play a role. In centuries past, the most successful members of the tribe were those who could round up the most cows. These fleet-footed men were thus able to garner more wives, and in turn produce more children. Manners also ascribes some possible significance to the Kalenjin circumcision ritual, in which adolescent males must endure the snipping with nary a shudder. Compared with that pain, 26-plus miles is a snap.

Grasshopper swarm leaves 11 dead

Eleven people died and thousands were taken to hospital with breathing difficulties after a swarm of grasshoppers invaded a town in central Sudan.

Health authorities in Wad Medani, capital of the central al-Jezira state, said an epidemic of what they considered to be asthma had afflicted 1,685 people since October 22, all of whom had since been cured.

The government-owned Al-Anbaa newspaper reported 11 people had died from the breathing difficulties.

"The appearance of the epidemic is linked to the unprecedented increase in the grasshopper insects," the daily quoted the health authorities as saying.

Resident Joseph Mogum in Wad Medani, about 176 km southeast of the capital Khartoum, said the grasshoppers gave off a strong smell which caused breathing problems.

Email from Uri:

According to this story, 52% of Jews do not believe in God, compared to 10% of Protestants and 21% of Catholics. Question: Do proportionally fewer Jews believe, or is it just easier to identify as a Jew without blieving than a Catholic or Protestant? [i.e. do "goyish" non-believers not identify with a religion while Jewish non-believers do?]

In response to that Haredi Rock article, Out Of Step Jew presents "The Day The Rebbe Jived," worthy of any Purim Hamevaser.

Heimishtown's Cookie thinks that "protocols" is a "sick name". Wonder what she'd have thought of Mobius' planned redesign...

Today:

11 a.m. to 3 p.m. -- Stern College for Women celebrates 50th anniversary with Family Day; Puck Building, 295-309 Lafayette Street.