aedile

- friends
4,717 link karma
9,700 comment karma
send messageredditor for
what's this?

TROPHY CASE

reddit is a source for what's new and popular online. vote on links that you like or dislike and help decide what's popular, or submit your own!

FactCheck: Romney DID eliminate kosher food options for retired Jewish senior citizens on Medicaid as governor. by reddit4in politics

[–]aedile 0 points1 point ago

This doesn't always work. Sometimes they give you Gefilte fish. You don't want Gefilte fish.

FactCheck: Romney DID eliminate kosher food options for retired Jewish senior citizens on Medicaid as governor. by reddit4in politics

[–]aedile 1 point2 points ago

Yes because there was Linnean Taxonomy when the Torah was written. The word there is not birds so much as "shit that flies".

how i feel as a christian on reddit by that_one_christianin funny

[–]aedile 0 points1 point ago

If you think that's bad, try being Jewish.

One of the world's fastest pianists has been in Britain to promote what he calls "continuous music", a style of playing that creates waves of notes that at some points reaches 19 notes per second. by syukin offbeat

[–]aedile 1 point2 points ago

Does it really bother you that much that six-year-olds the world over aren't saying "Lego bricks" instead of Legos? If so, then you need to get better perspective on life as a whole.

So yeah, I almost died today... by LakesideHerbologyin WTF

[–]aedile 0 points1 point ago

Too early for flapjacks?

Redditors of the Tribe! What should I expect during the conversion to Judaism? by She-wolfe99in Judaism

[–]aedile 0 points1 point ago

I assure you it's the rule, rather than the exception in most cases. Maybe it's just that they've shored things up in the recent past, but there is a URJ proscribed curriculum for the conversion process and the vast majority of URJ synagogues follow that curriculum.

I certainly don't let what other Jews think of me discourage me from participating here. Despite our tendency to disagree on things from time to time, I think you folks are great.

Redditors of the Tribe! What should I expect during the conversion to Judaism? by She-wolfe99in Judaism

[–]aedile 1 point2 points ago

Nothing specifically because you are a female. You might ask botticellilady for the female perspective. She's my wife and we converted at the same time.

Reddit, what is the best piece of advice you know? by seslain AskReddit

[–]aedile 3 points4 points ago

Excellent advice. :-D Hi, hon!

Redditors of the Tribe! What should I expect during the conversion to Judaism? by She-wolfe99in Judaism

[–]aedile 0 points1 point ago

No, it's not true. The URJ, which is the national body of Reform synagogues, will say that at a bare minimum you have to have counseling by Rabbis and take an educational course before conversion. They are very serious about people understanding what it is they are undertaking.

Redditors of the Tribe! What should I expect during the conversion to Judaism? by She-wolfe99in Judaism

[–]aedile 0 points1 point ago

It may be that the community I live in has less of a problem because everybody knows each other and knows exactly what is involved in the conversion process. I am even grudgingly accepted by most of the Orthodox community here at community events. At the very least, they're civil/polite.

The Most Annoying, Pretentious And Useless Business Jargon by wantitbringitin business

[–]aedile 0 points1 point ago

Comment your code, don't make changes to production systems during high-traffic time periods, comment your code, do at least basic design before laying down any code, comment your code, use meaningful variable names instead of single letters, comment your code....

I could go on all night. There are certain things that pretty much everyone knows about software development. That's why we can all groan at the DailyWTF articles.

Redditors of the Tribe! What should I expect during the conversion to Judaism? by She-wolfe99in Judaism

[–]aedile -1 points0 points ago

While I disagree with some of smokesteam's comments, I will say that I agree with his assertion that your conversion may or may not be recognized by other sects of Judaism. Most Conservative people don't seem to have an issue with Reform converts. Most Orthodox people do seem to take issue. I'm generalizing here, but the generalizations tend to be true the majority of the time.

I will say this, if you plan to move to Israel, people may tell you that you cannot as a Reform convert. This is patently untrue. According to Israeli law and interpretation by their Supreme court, you can make aliyah under the law of return. However, you may find yourself in a strange situation where, religiously, you are not considered Jewish, due to the fact that such matters are handled by an Orthodox Rabbinate.

Redditors of the Tribe! What should I expect during the conversion to Judaism? by She-wolfe99in Judaism

[–]aedile 4 points5 points ago

Greetings. First off, you may, at times, find this particular forum slightly impolite to outright hostile to the fact that you have chosen the Reform sect. Don't let it bother you, as you'll find it less true in real life. There are actually plenty of Reform Jews around, they're just less vocal.

Here is what you can expect if your process was anything like mine:

The whole "turned down by a rabbi" thing is a myth in my experience. During my conversion process, I was challenged on many occasions to address why I wanted to convert and to prove that my heart was in the right place, but I was never denied.

You will probably have to attend classes to start with. These will cover the history of Judaism and the people in general, the differences between the different sects of Judaism and specifically why Reform Jews do things the way they do. In addition to this, you'll have some pretty intensive study as to the basics of Jewish customs, prayers, etc. You will likely be required to attend Shabbat services every week and certainly the high holidays.

I was subjected to evaluations by all the members of the Beit Din. If you don't know what that is, it's a group of people who will judge your fitness to join the ranks of Judaism. In my case, this involved speaking on several occasions with both of my Rabbis as well as the education director at our temple. The conversations were highly personal in nature, but not intrusively so. In addition to this, I had to visit with a counselor from JFS. Mostly they do this to assure you aren't in any kind of emotional or psychological morass that would make you a poor candidate for conversion. To my knowledge, you are welcome to continue with the process even if you don't pass muster at this point, but they might reserve the right to ask you to seek further counseling before they'll let you convert. In addition to all this, there was a support group led by two converts where we could discuss any issues we were having with the conversion process. It was stressed that discussions in the support group would not "make it back" to the Rabbis, so if you had any questions you were too embarrassed to ask, or wanted to bitch a little if it was difficult, you were welcomed to do so without repercussions.

After about six months of weekly classes on Judaica, I had a further six weeks of intense Hebrew classes. You won't walk away from these classes with anything more than a working knowledge of how to read and a small vocabulary. Further classes were offered after this (which I took), but weren't a requirement for conversion. In my experience, most people can get by with what you learn in the intro Hebrew class but you'll appreciate further classes and they'll help you enjoy services more, so take them if they are available. If you ever want to make your bat mitzvah, you'll need all the Hebrew you can get, so take advantage of what's available to you.

I had to do a final examination consisting of several essay questions. It was open book, open note. It was supposed to be exceedingly difficult but I finished it in maybe an hour or so. Our classes were great and so I knew all the factual stuff by heart. The thought-provoking questions were, for the most part, things I'd already asked of myself, so I pretty much knew all of the answers. Bottom-line here, pay attention in the classes. This stuff is important, and as it turns out, there was a test on it.

After you've done all of this, the Beit Din will do a final review of your conversion process. If you've "passed" you'll go to a Mikvah which is usually just like a small body of water or a pool fed by a natural source. Here you'll strip down naked and be immersed a few times and say some prayers.

I'm assuming you are female based on the user name, but if you are a guy, before you go to the Mikvah you'll either need to be circumcised or, if you already are, they may perform a small ceremony to basically make your circumcision officially Jewish.

After this, you'll probably have a small ceremony attended by friends and family to make your conversion finalized.

Here are a few random tips: 1) All of the above should be illuminated by your rabbi or whoever is teaching the conversion class. There were no surprises. I knew everything that would be involved within a week of beginning.

2) Enjoy yourself! This is a special time and you'll be learning lots of new and interesting things. If you are converting on your own, find a friend in the class to get to know.

3) Get to know the "shalom committee", the welcome committee, or the member services director at your temple/synagogue. You will best enjoy your experience if you find some people who are already active and make them your friends. Start with a small group of socially active folks, and they'll slowly introduce you around.

4) If you are a little nervous about the Hebrew, and have even the slightest level of vocal talent, consider asking if you can join the choir (if they have one). I learned most of the prayers way earlier than the rest of my class by singing them.

5) Don't be afraid to ask questions. One thing I've noticed is that you have nearly unfettered access to your rabbis during this period to ask questions. Take advantage of this!

Sorry for the wall of text, but it's a pretty big question. I was disappointed by the lack of real answers here, so I thought I'd try to give you a real answer.

The Most Annoying, Pretentious And Useless Business Jargon by wantitbringitin business

[–]aedile 8 points9 points ago

To your point on Robust (which I agree with), "Best Practices" in Comp Sci means specifically "what the majority of developers generally agrees is the proper way to do something". It comes up all the time, and isn't something that should just be thrown out.

Scalable is also another industry-specific term that has an important meaning. We use it all the time to describe a hardware set-up.

mythbusters . . . WTF by OsbyTexasin WTF

[–]aedile 119 points120 points ago

Yeah, everyone knows it's "Circle Circle Dot Dot".

Teacher sleeps in class. Student gets suspended for taking pic of it. by slumdog-properin offbeat

[–]aedile 1 point2 points ago

Well, at least you aren't from Texas (says a Texas redditor).

How Sitting All Day Is Damaging Your Body and How You Can Counteract It by cinderellyin Health

[–]aedile 0 points1 point ago

The point, if you read it carefully, is that getting excercise doesn't matter so much as getting regular breaks from sitting. You can sit all day, and then go home and work out for an hour, and it won't matter because you sat all day. Whereas if you get up for a few minutes every hour, you'll not have the same array of problems.

Two second google search found a press release from a university where the study was done. http://munews.missouri.edu/news-releases/2007/1115-hamilton-inactivity.php Can't find a copy of the study, but I didn't exactly try to.

What's your favorite Jewish scene from movies and TV? by 4cubitsin Judaism

[–]aedile 0 points1 point ago

Howdy, see my comment above. Small world, eh?

What's your favorite Jewish scene from movies and TV? by 4cubitsin Judaism

[–]aedile 2 points3 points ago

Same movie, but the "He does NOT MAKE RAIN!!!" scene.

Edit: holy crap, just realized my wife commented with the same scene below.

:-D

Oklahoma lawmaker wants to stop Pepsi from using aborted fetus cells in soda flavoring research by BakeryBoyin Health

[–]aedile 1 point2 points ago

They are using cell cultures to reliably judge flavor response. It isn't being injected into your pepsi. Flavoring agents are placed on arrays of cells and the feedback is measured.

I found my ecstasy by BeardToastin fffffffuuuuuuuuuuuu

[–]aedile 250 points251 points ago* 

Except many wipes aren't flushable. They make moistened butt-wipes from grownups. They're sold next to the toilet paper and they won't screw up your plumbing.

Edit: well, I'd correct it, but then the rest of you would look like tools...

view more: next