Jewish News
A collection of miscellaneous Jewish links to news that you might like, with stars attached:
Heeb Magazine (****/5) A new Jewish review for hip young Jewish folk.
Makor (***/5) See above but insert word “organization” instead of “review”
The Forward (*****/5) Very nice site with solid stories and links
The Jewish Week (**/5) Good content if you live in NYC only
The Jerusalem Post (****/5) The most important source for news about Israel
Tikkun Magazine (***/5) The left-leaning, intellectual journal — link points to article on Arafat
New Jew Review (does not exist yet – why, I do not know)

My Horoscope
…The atmosphere created by the position of the planets today is challenging your mental capacities. There is a whole new path waiting for you to explore.
I think it’s at least somewhat interesting that one of Yahoo!’s primary new revenue models is around Horoscopes. The idea is that people are generally very willing to pay premium prices to understand their future and the promise of possibility, good or bad. What is more interesting is that I check my Yahoo! Horoscope almost every day and it rarely, if ever, reports terrible news that is about to happen. Not that I am looking for it, but aren’t oracles supposed to be objective and not sugar-coated?
I don’t get it. Then again, as a Pisces, I’m not supposed to.

[BOX EYE]
Very nice site by a colleague of mine, Shannon Roy. Take a look, specifically, at his blue sky photographs taken in Santa Monica. They are a sight for sore eyes on this grainy, gray January day in NYC.
P.S. Today is my daughter’s proposed birth date.

Oh and one more thing. I have looked everywhere on the Web for an insane advertising campaign by 7UP in which a grown man pulls his pants down and he is quite literally “branded” with the 7UP logo. What is striking about it is that he is a black man who looks shamed and humiliated by the experience and the tag line reads: “MAKE 7UP YOURS.”
Isn’t anyone out there kind of distressed about this? Am I the one who is insane? Hmm. Did political readings of social imagery go away in 1989 when I graduated college? I’ll keep searching for links and post them here. The first one, very hidden deep in 7UP’s corporate site is about the actor in the ads, Godfrey. Another irony.

Sorry, folks. It’s been some time since I’ve had time to write. Hey, I’m a new father! Give the old man a break.
In fact, it’s been an amazing 10 days or so. I look and feel old. I am alternately astounded and exhausted. Yesterday evening, the baby looked in my eyes straight and the whole thing gave me a case of the fits. I was overwhelmed by the possibility that, for one microsecond, she saw my soul and I hers. It’s still hard to believe she is mine, my flesh and blood; well, not all mine.
One thing I’ve rediscovered: coffee.
Another thing I’ve learned: in all of the books about pregnancy, birth, and preparation for both, no where do they warn you that you’re going to be one sorry mess after the baby arrives ’cause you ain’t sleeping worth a damn. They also don’t tell you that you won’t believe (at least occasionally) that the baby is actually YOURS.
Note: just as I promised not to make this Blog a monologue about September 11 obsessions, you have my word I will not rename this blog Highchairs on the Titanic.

Maeve was born into our world yesterday at 12:35 PM. She weighed (and I’m not sure why this matters that much, but) 6 pounds, 11 and 3/4 ounces and she’s beautiful, if I must say so myself. I will post a link to photos very soon.
I am completely and utterly astounded at the miracle of birth, which undoubtedly, has been going on for a long time. No thing, nothing can compare to watching your child poke their head into the air filled earth as they visit their family for the very first second.

Finally, FINALLY, the new Featured Artist is up. I know you will enjoy it. Take a look. It’s incredibly refreshing to see be posting work that is not electronic in any form whatsoever. Of course, by scanning Maddalena Polletta’s work, framing and containing it on MANOVERBOARD.com, I have defiantly defeated my own cause. But my hope is that her work and its lush, simple textures come through, even online.
Yes, still on BabyWatch. We cannot wait. Any day now.

OVEN
A good site to look at and think through.

Microsoft
Okay, I just got a laptop. I think I already posted this. It’s a very nice Compaq, small, lite, with a great 14.1″ screen and a good keyboard and Windows XP.
I’m now going to say the impossible: I actually like Microsoft. No, I’m not going to rave about how cool the Paxil-like clouds and green grass are on my desktop (though I do find them strangely comforting). Nor am I going to rant about how Microsoft has done just such a bad PR job in the past with regard to its software and browsers development.
Rather, I have a few (very real, but not serious) MS hardware and software issues — with the USB Intellipoint mouse and Word 2000 running on XP — and in both cases, after much hemming and hawing about whether to call their customer support, I did, AND, they were excellent, helpful, and not overly prying. They didn’t ask for social security number, didn’t want my cat’s left ear, didn’t ask to prove that I was an owner of the software. Impressive. And all this time I thought they were evil. Who knew?
Here’s a link to a cooler part of Microsoft — the TerraServer, which provides an interactive map of, like, the whole world. Let’s call it a reward.

2001 Searches
The old Chinese saying “May you live in interesting times,” wished on people you do not like, has certainly come true this past year. Of course it could have been worse — much worse in fact. I learned today that there are approximately the same number dead in Afghanistan (civilians) as there were due to the September 11 events.
Here are links to the most searched terms in 2001. Note: all references to porn and other derring-do are not indexed by these companies.
Yahoo! Buzz Index – Overall Leaders
Lycos’ Web’s Most Wanted 2001
Most interesting of all:
Year-End Google Zeitgeist